On a Wing and a Prayer
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Sam, desperate to either bring Dean back or save him from the pit, finds an unusual ritual. Except no one told him this ritual wasn't for normal people like himself. Oops. Now he's an outside observer to an ancient blood tournament that won't hesitate to kill him...with an unusual spirit from ancient times as Enkidu the only thing keeping him alive.
1. Chapter 1

**Sam is not a Magus in this, he has no prana. The ONLY reason he lives is because heaven tweaked his aura enough to survive and still have a Servant. He's more of an observer in the Fate/Zero storyline.**

 **Do NOT complain about how magecraft doesn't work like this or the lack of details. This is mostly from a Hunter's viewpoint.** **This is a Supernatural/ Fate/Zero cross, so** **enjoy.**

* * *

It had been almost two months since Dean died at the hands of hellhounds. During that time he had tried and failed everything he could to bring his brother back, or at least get him out of hell. All the while Ruby hovered around the fringes just waiting for Sam to give in and accept her help.

He was at the edge of giving up all hope when he found something online that had his attention. It wasn't much, just a forum for some Europeans. But what was currently on the discussion board caught his immediate interest.

A tournament where the prize was a single wish. It wasn't even that hard, you had to summon some sort of familiar to fight for you, and the winner was the last man standing with an active "command seal". It was even overseen by the Church, so it couldn't be that bad.

And from what the board said, the tournament was currently active.

Which meant he had a chance to save Dean, even if it mean traveling halfway around the world to a country he had never been before.

A few inquiries provided the ritual to summon a "Servant". As well as a copy of the circle required. He didn't know why the other people on the board were so wary of this _Kaleidoscope_Wizard_ , but if it meant saving his brother he'd make a deal with a demon.

He had a few chickens and a rough sketch made of chalk to help him pour fresh blood along the lines. As he did so, he recited the incantation he had spent hours memorizing perfectly.

He didn't understand anything about 'circuits' or 'crests'. All he knew was that this was as good a chance as any to save his brother, and that all he had to do was win some fight between six others.

Sam almost shouted the last line of the incantation, and felt something seem to test him as the lines light up brightly in the night. He winced as his right hand seemed to bleed from nothing, forming the shape of great wings on the back of it. They were a red color, but there was something...off about it. It was almost dull, as if someone had dried the blood very quickly.

" _Are you my Master...?"_ asked a wisp of a figure. It was translucent, but still more real than most ghosts he had dealt with. The fact it was able to tolerate salt was another clue as well.

"I'm the one who summoned you," said Sam, a little surprised. He wasn't expecting a _ghost_.

The figure looked down at itself, before looking back at Sam.

" _Something seems to have gone wrong with the summoning. I am unable to take physical form."_

"Is that a bad thing?"

The figure gave him a flat look.

" _Without physical form, I cannot protect you from the other Servants, much less the Masters. More than that, I can sense that the Lancer of this war has already been summoned,"_ he stated flatly.

"War? What war? I thought this was a simple tournament!"

" _You really have_ no _idea what you just got yourself into, do you?"_

Seeing Sam's expression, the figure sighed.

" _This is going to be a long flight to Fuyuki, I can just tell."_

* * *

 _ **One week later...**_

A rather tall figure with a duffel bag and a pair of gloves walked off the plane. It had been a total hassle faking an ID that would come up clean so he could register for a passport. They took that a lot more seriously than pretending to be an FBI agent.

Fortunately that's what birth certificates were for, and the only real change he made was to his last name. As far as anyone needed to know, he had opted to go by his mother's maiden name rather than his father's after a dispute with the man.

Sam Campbell was just checking in to a rather cheap hotel when he heard the explosion. His eyes went wide as they flew to the really fancy hotel on the other side of the river.

The entire building was collapsing in on itself. However there was no way he could do anything about it.

Lancer was quite clear. If the other Masters knew of his predicament, they'd kill him without a second thought. Mostly because it was almost impossible to kill a Servant when they were astralized.

Sam made sure to keep everything centralized so he could grab and leave with a moment's notice. Until he could figure out a way to materialize Lancer properly, there was no way he could obtain the grail.

Which meant he was quite literally the weakest Master in the war.

Sam frowned. His hunter's instincts were on high alert when he heard the reports of missing children all over the city. Far too many for it to be normal. Which was why he went looking...and ended up running into a rather large man that almost put _Sam_ to shame in the size department and a weaker kid that looked almost as out of place as Sam did in this mess.

" _Who are you?"_ he asked in choppy Japanese.

"My name is Sam. Are you here investigating the disappearance of the children too?"

"What? No, I'm investigating the traces of magecraft I found in the river water. My name's Waver, by the way," he said in English. It was rather accented, probably because he came from England or the UK.

"And what about the big guy? It's pretty rare for me to find anyone bigger than I am, and people generally liken me to a moose," said Sam joking, to put the nervous kid at ease. It worked.

"His name is..."

"I am Iskander, the King of Conquerors!" declared the red head proudly.

"Well, Alexander the Great, I am Sam, a Hunter."

"Hunter of what?" asked Waver.

Sam looked at him oddly.

"Do they not have Hunters in England? We take out things like werewolves, vampires and ghosts."

"Oh, you're an Enforcer. I wasn't aware they dealt with ghosts and werewolves," said Waver, relaxing.

"What's an Enforcer?" said Sam, baffled.

"You are a Magus...aren't you?"

"I only heard that term a few weeks ago. Anyway from what I've been able to tell, most of the missing children vanished within a mile from roughly this area. If we're lucky, then we'll be able to rescue some of them. If not...well I brought gasoline and a box of matches."

Iskander nodded solemnly. He liked this man, even if he wasn't actually a Magus.

So while they rode on Iskander's chariot, the Servant and odd American quietly spoke. Waver was able to gather enough to know that while Sam wasn't an Enforcer, he was a pretty close equivalent. He follow breadcrumbs to supernatural threats and took them out before they did too much damage.

He was also as much a scholar as Waver himself, and a vivid fan of history. It didn't take much for him to get Iskander to talk about life when he was still alive, rather than a Servant.

All talk ceased when they reached the end of the pipe. Forewarned by the smell, Sam tried to keep Waver from seeing the sight around them.

He handled the massacre of children fairly well, for a greenhorn.

"Who could do something like this?" said Waver, breathing through a cloth around his mouth. Sam had been nice enough to loan it to him so he didn't have to smell most of it.

"I've learned it's better not to ask questions like what motivates creatures capable to do something like this. Can you find any clues where the thing that did this is?" asked Sam sadly.

Waver did his best to look for clues, gagging a few times. Meanwhile Sam and Rider had blank expressions on their faces as they began to collect the bodies and put them into piles so that they could at least give them a dignified burial.

Sam and Waver spoke a few prayers of the dead (Waver was surprised to find that he knew Latin well enough to speak it so easily) before they tossed the matches into the drenched piles. It would draw attention to the mass grave, but it also meant that Waver didn't have to hide what had happened to the dead children.

Once they were out in the fresh air, Sam handed him some peppermints to settle Waver's poor stomach.

"Does it get any easier?" he asked.

"If it does, then you know you've been hunting far too long. Just remember that if we take out the monster that did this, then they won't be able to harm another person ever again. It makes the pain and shock just a little more bearable," said Sam weakly.

It didn't help the inevitable nightmares that Waver had that night, but fortunately Rider had a solution. He got his Master so drunk that he wouldn't be seeing straight for a day or two at least.

Hangovers were preferable to the nightmares.

* * *

Gilgamesh was in a somewhat foul mood. He kept sensing his friend around, but it was faint. Almost like an echo.

As he wandered around Fuyuki, sneering at the way humanities fangs had been dulled over the ages, he came across something that practically demanded his attention.

It was human, of that he had no doubt...but there were subtle hints of something _more_ around him. The tall man was very out of place, and he had the bearing of a true warrior, not the paltry imitations that existed. This was someone who had gone through countless trials by fire and come out alive, stronger. And yet at the same time there was a fragility about his demeanor stating it would only take the smallest push for him to snap and become something greater or lesser than a man should be.

In short he was something very interesting indeed, and yet perfectly comfortable in the current age.

Which meant he had to learn more about him, if only to assuage his boredom at the moment.

He wasn't more than a few feet from the man when he suddenly looked up...and Gilgamesh caught a flicker of something behind him.

The closer he got, the more defined the flicker became.

When he was within the man's reach, he spoke the one name he hadn't dared hope to see again.

"Enkidu."

" _Gilgamesh."_

"How it this possible?" he asked.

" _Sam found the incantation and circle, but was unaware of what they were actually for. And since Lancer was already summoned when he found it... the ritual didn't fully take,"_ shrugged Enkidu. _"I am little more than a shade, unable to do anything. If I try to fully materialize I'd only end up killing Sam, which would cause me to disappear as well."_

"Hmph. Has he been treating you well?" asked Gilgamesh.

" _He listens to my stories and writes them down so he doesn't forget. For a warrior he is quite fascinating."  
_

Gilgamesh looked at Sam, who was politely reading his books and giving him the semblance of privacy.

A warrior and a scholar. A mere glance revealed that the book the man was reading was about the legend of Gilgamesh himself.

"Why are you unable to manifest properly?"he asked finally.

" _Sam has no active magic circuits. Something seems to be acting in place of them, but I am unaware what it is. If he were to forcibly activate them, I might be able to manifest properly."  
_

Gilgamesh had little interest in the Grail if he could have Enkidu by his side. And from what he could tell, this "Sam" would be just as happy to serve as a scribe to tell others of his greatness. He hadn't been very happy to find that more people knew who King Arthur or Iskander were, but almost none of them knew who Gilgamesh was.

"Hmph. There is a simple solution to fix that. If you return again tomorrow I will have something that should awaken any magic circuits you may have," said Gilgamesh arrogantly. He wasn't using any of his treasures if he could simply take something from Tokiomi's own stash to use. He had yet to determine if this Sam person was worthy to speak to him personally.

It took little effort to acquire a jewel that looked appropriate. It wasn't like Tokiomi would get very far as his Master. The man was barely suitable and far too arrogant for Gilgamesh to like.

* * *

" _I'm sorry about his attitude."_

"It's fine. I've handled worse when Dean was high on painkillers and hallucinating. And while he is very arrogant, from what I can tell it's more or less justified. So long as he doesn't go killing people indiscriminately I can live with him being around a lot," said Sam.

" _On the plus side, it does seem like he approves of you, to a point. At least you have something to work off of,"_ said Enkidu somewhat cheerfully.

"Well it's better than him hating me for no reason, I guess," said Sam depressed. He had been upset when he found the remains of the children, and horrified when he learned where the other 'survivors' went to.

This Caster was nothing less than a monster, pure and simple. He had to be taken out before he obtained even more victims.

While Enkidu couldn't manifest a physical form, he had discovered there were benefits to being a strange sort of ghost. For one thing he had a rather wide leash with which to spy on the other Masters (it was the main reason Sam found the first "workshop" as he called it so quickly). He had also ascertained who all the Masters and what their Servants were.

Sam didn't like the idea of being an assassin, but the Master of the Caster Servant was just as deranged and evil as his Servant. He had to die before he caused further damage.

He had no interest in the Grail after Enkidu patiently explained that even if he _did_ obtain it, he never would gain his actual wish... return of his brother or releasing him from his eternal tenure in hell.

It might have been _called_ the Holy Grail, but it most certainly wasn't the mythical artifact. It was doubtful the real thing even had such a power to begin with.

So Sam sucked it up, as he always did, and decided to make the best of an awkward situation. In fact it was doing wonders for his depression, because Enkidu assured him that the Servants would be ancient heroes. Heroes who might be more than happy to share their stories for him to write down and remember.

Iskander was clearly of that persuasion. In fact he was happy to boast about his own legend.

It was because he knew what he had to do that he decided there couldn't be any harm visiting the Church. If only to gain a little spiritual stability before he had to kill a _human._

Kill a ghost? No problem. Kill a vampire? Hand him a machete and he was good to go. Werewolves? Difficult but he didn't lose a wink of sleep at night.

Killing a human because he was a monster that the modern society couldn't handle, much less arrest because he was a Master?

Yeah, he needed something to bolster his spirit up before he did his job as a Hunter. He viewed the Master of Caster as a very twisted sort of witch.

If he had known the headaches he was going to get from his visit to a simple church, he might have thought twice about it. Alas, he hadn't known the more...common...small details of the war he had jumped in without knowing.


	2. Chapter 2

**_Okay, minor detail before you read this. Someone complained that Sam only saw Waver collecting river water and that he made an assumption that Waver was up to something else. In canon_ Iskander _was the one who collected the water, not Waver. Sam just assumed Waver had followed the same clues he did upon hearing about the missing kids. HE DID NOT KNOW WAVER IS A MAGUS_. _Waver, on the other hand assumed Sam was an Enforcer, mostly due to the fact that Sam had a gun with him at the time and due to the fact the tournament was active._**

 ** _Hope that clears it up._**

* * *

Kotomine Risei had seen many men seek solace in a church before. But in his many years as a member of the Holy Church, one man seemed to be a beacon that demanded his attention. There was a subtle aura around him that seemed to glow brightly even in the dimly lit church.

He was tall and well built. Clearly a warrior in an age when such people were considered out of place. He wore old clothing that was well-worn, but well cared for. He was definitely not a resident of the city, and he didn't have the same characteristics of a magus. He was sitting on the pew with no discomfort, meaning he felt at ease in the church.

The fact he was most definitely praying also gained his attention.

What could such a man be praying for? Who was this stranger who appeared in the middle of such a bloody war that had no real meaning?

Risei had to know. The parallels between this man and his son, at least on the surface at least, were beyond striking. There was a sort of void that was around them, except unlike Kirei, this man didn't exude the same emptiness around him.

He was lost, yes, but not yet broken.

"Seeking answers?" he inquired discreetly. He had to know more about this man, if only to assuage his curiosity.

The man snorted, despite himself.

"If answers from god or his divine children were so easy to get, the world would not be half as screwed up as it is now," he deadpanned.

Risei silently agreed with that sentiment. Still, he had to say something, if only to learn more about this curious individual.

"What brought you to Fuyuki?"

"I found a ritual that is part of a greater one said to grant any wish, and like an idiot I tried it. And when I got here, I was informed rather bluntly that even if I succeeded, the object in question didn't have the power to grant it."

Risei blinked. It almost sounded like he was a master, but that couldn't be right. The young man in front of him didn't feel like one, at all. And he would know considering he held all the unused command seals from the last three.

"What is the wish you seek?"

"The return of my brother, or at least the salvation of his soul," he replied without any hesitation.

"A noble pursuit," agreed Risei. And the man was right...it was one wish he was almost certain was beyond the Grail's grasp.

The man stood up, as if to leave.

"Leaving so soon?"

"There is a man out in the city. He has done unthinkable things to the innocent, and more than that he _enjoys_ it. If he's not stopped, then the death toll will be unimaginably high, and the only thing the police will do is throw him in a prison. This man deserves more than to rot in some cell...he needs to be disposed of."

"Surely the police can handle such a man?" said Risei, though he was almost certain the quiet giant was talking about Caster's Master. He had read the police reports, and the fire hadn't completely erased all the evidence. Burying those reports had been a complete nightmare.

The man shook his head.

"He is a mad dog. Besides, this is what I do for a living. Saving people, hunting things...it's always been the family business."

He left as quietly as he had entered the church. However what he said last stuck to the priest. He was clearly not a magus, otherwise he would have known that the Holy Church was the silent observer of the war. He wasn't a member of the Church, he would have been informed of such beforehand.

But the way he said "hunting things" did ring a bell. There was _one_ group of people, scattered and unorganized as they were, that the Enforcers and Executors ran into occasionally while cleaning up after the Apostles. They stumbled into the hunts and rather than be a nuisance, they were usually very helpful in their own way for civilians.

Hunters. The human equivalent of the Enforcers and Executors who discreetly hunted and killed things that would harm humanity. Their targets ranged from anything from murderous ghosts to demons, and if they lived longer than a few years they tended to get very good at picking up subtle signs before the Church did.

And one of them had been in his Church.

Risei's curiosity had only increased, rather than abated with this revelation.

There was only one way to find out who this odd man was. He had some calls to make.

* * *

Sam was rather frustrated when he couldn't find hide or hair of Caster's Master. He gave up around two in the morning, before returning to his room and sleeping. Once he was up and properly dressed, he went back to the park. Enkidu was rather...detailed... about what happened whenever Gilgamesh felt like he was being ignored. While it wasn't as bad as when he felt angry at someone unworthy looking at him or trying to talk to him, the outcome was still the same.

Sam had no intention of dying because a king from the past got pissed at him for not showing up.

Gilgamesh appeared, just like he said he would.

Sam was once again reading, this time about Alexander the Great. The man wasn't exactly known for being subtle.

Gilgamesh dropped something in his lap. It almost looked like some sort of ruby.

Forewarned by Enkidu, he didn't speak. Instead he let the green-haired figure speak for him.

" _How is this supposed to awaken his latent circuits?"_

"Swallowing that should force them to awaken. However if he does try that method, he should be sure that it's done someplace no one will notice. The screaming would almost certainly alert the _humans_ ," Gilgamesh said flatly. Unspoken was the fact that if Sam did awaken his circuits enough that Enkidu could manifest, then Gilgamesh fully expected to have a long chat with his friend for the first time since they were summoned.

Sam took that to mean it would be painful as hell. He wondered if he could get drunk enough that it would dull the pain first, or if that would have a negative impact.

Having delivered the item, Gilgamesh vanished before his "master" noticed anything amiss. Tokiomi was a fool, but he was not a complete idiot. If he knew there was a Master in the war with a partially summoned Servant, he wouldn't hesitate to end that Master.

And that was unacceptable. Gilgamesh was very fond of Enkidu, and if keeping the odd giant alive meant he kept Enkidu around for as long as possible, then he would.

* * *

 _Later that night, in an abandoned warehouse..._

Sam eyed the ruby dubiously. According to Enkidu he just had to swallow it, and the power inside would react immediately once it hit his stomach.

He had to avoid his hotel room for this, because he didn't want them calling an ambulance after hearing screams.

He had nothing left to lose, and from what he understood of Servants, if he didn't do something before the war was over keeping Enkidu around was liable to kill him. He looked at the jewel one last time before swallowing it whole.

At first nothing happened. Then the pain hit him like a freight train. It felt like all his nerve endings were on fire. But that wasn't all of it. He heard the distinct sound of cloth ripping, and he could feel the shirt on his back bulging as something surged out of it.

The pain was now directed to his back, as something massive and powerful flowed forth. He could feel his soul connecting to something bigger, but he had no idea what was happening.

After thirty excruciating minutes, he was finally able to open his eyes and _breathe_.

There, watching with concern, was Enkidu. He was a lot more solid than Sam had seen him, and he had a sort of androgynous look about him.

"What... what happened?" he asked, panting. He felt like shit.

"Something I doubt even _he_ was expecting. Ingesting that rock should have just awakened your circuits. Not this."

It took Sam ten full minutes to realize something was off about his balance. That was when he noticed the glowing.

He turned his head slowly, took a long look, before pinching his nose.

"Please tell me I'm hallucinating and there aren't six massive wings brighter than snow on my back."

"Do you want a comforting lie or the blunt truth?"

"Lie to me, please."

"Then you haven't spontaneously grown angel wings to compensate for the fact you didn't have magic circuits. I'm not getting prana, but something seems to be acting in place of it."

Sam tried to stand, but was having very little luck of it. He was still in too much pain.

It took him two hours just to gather the strength to stand up. And that was only when Enkidu astralized and went back to being a strange ghost.

He could only hope that this pain went away in the morning.

He staggered into his room and all but collapsed onto the cheap bed.

Tomorrow had to be a better day.

* * *

Every Master felt the surge. Every. Single. One. It felt like prana, but it wasn't.

Out of the Servants, only two recognized the feeling for what it was.

Saber, who had felt the presence of the divine when she took Caliburn out of the stone.

Gilgamesh, who had lived during the Age of the Gods and been in the presence of several.

Out of the two groups, only one had any idea what was happening. Gilgamesh smirked, because this meant that the Master who had Enkidu was far _more_ interesting than he assumed. To hold that much divine power while being a mere human.

More importantly, with that surge Gilgamesh had finally figured out why this "Sam" had been able to summon a Servant without dying for it.

He was the Vessel of an arch angel. Likely Lucifer, if Gilgamesh remembered the requirements for the Catholic apocalypse right.

Which meant by activating his circuits by force, chances were that Gilgamesh had derailed that plan rather effectively. If he was right, then he could have endless entertainment annoying Yahweh's feathered brats.

If there was one thing that was sure to entertain him without fail, it was getting the best of the so-called "angels".

His grin was vicious.

This war would be more entertaining than he had hoped!

* * *

Sam groaned as the morning light hit him. Thanks to Enkidu, he had known to pay for two weeks up front. Thus he didn't have to worry about lodgings. Years of traveling under the radar (and with Dean) had him going by the name Abraham Stoker, after the author who wrote _Dracula._ While Stoker got most of his facts wrong, Dracula was still one of THE most iconic villains in history.

It was as he was trying to sit up that he saw a problem.

The wings were back. Only they didn't hurt like before. Instead they were just...there. He decided he might as well experiment with the things before he figured out how to hide them.

He flapped them once, twice. The gusts they gave off were pretty strong. Almost as if they could possibly carry him, which was no small feat considering how heavy he was.

More than that, they felt...strange. It almost felt like he was back in the church, praying.

The mere thought of praying sent a cacophony of sound not in his ears, though it seemed like that at first. No, this sound was entirely in his head.

It took several precious moments to erect a barrier in his mind, once he understood where it came from.

Sam took deep breaths, trying to still his racing heart.

That was...intense...to say the least. Looking back, he could see his newly grown wings glowing from an internal light.

As if wings weren't bad enough, now they were glowing. Great.

As he thought that, they began to dim until they were just a too-bright white color.

They were still too attention-grabbing for the hunter part of him to like. And they didn't look like they would fit under any coat he could scrounge up.

If only there were a way to hide these stupid things so no one saw them!

Sam blinked as they vanished with nary a sound.

It took him a few seconds to realize that they hadn't disappeared completely. He tried flapping them again.

They suddenly appeared.

"So they're controlled by will and thought. That makes this easier..." he muttered. He willed them into vanishing again. They disappeared from sight, leaving the rather large rips in his shirt behind.

He was going to have to adjust his clothes to avoid a repeat of what happened.

At least his back didn't feel like it was being slowly set on fire with a candle...or used as hellhound bait.

"Are you alright, Master?"

Reminded he wasn't alone, Sam blinked at the odd address.

"I'm still Sam. You know how uncomfortable being called 'Master' makes me," he replied.

Sam had made a point to break Enkidu of calling him "master" as quickly as he could.

"Very well Sam. I suspect Gilgamesh will be staying close to his summoner, so we should use this as a chance to observe the other pairs today," suggested Enkidu.

"Who knows, we might run into Iskander and Waver again," said Sam.


	3. Chapter 3

Waver was feeling rather nervous, especially after what happened last night. He was woken out of a sound sleep by a wave of energy that felt...weird.

Lacking any real means to find out discreetly, he decided to head to the library and try to find any books on the land itself. Perhaps this had happened before.

He almost crashed into a tired looking Sam.

"Whoa. Easy Waver...you're small enough that you might get crushed by all those books."

Indeed, Waver had a large stack of them on the table.

"Hey... Sam wasn't it? Who's your friend?"

"His name is Midori. I ran into him by accident while getting some food for later. Don't let the way he looks fool you, he really is a guy," lied Sam easily.

Midori, the Japanese word for "green". Sam had been stumped as to what to call Enkidu that wouldn't draw attention, so he hit a dictionary and decided to keep it simple. Hence why his Servant was named after his hair color.

"Nice to meet you Midori. I'm Waver. The big idiot over there is Alex," said Waver depressed.

"So what are you researching now?"

"There was something weird last night that I'm trying to figure out."

"And you're checking books that most likely won't have the answers because the people who printed them were kept out of the loop?" Sam half-asked.

Waver blinked, then realized Sam had a valid point. But where else was he supposed to look?

Sam spotted something he was vaguely familiar with.

"Tell me, do you know how to use the old news reel machines?" he asked.

"The what?"

"Come on. If you're investigating strange occurrences in local news, then books about the area aren't going to work. I generally only hit the library when it comes to mythology or other widely researched things that you can't really ask about, like old word of mouth stories about ghosts and the like. If you want local news that wasn't really mentioned to outsiders, you should hit the news reels. Most libraries usually keep them on hand, since they're a matter of public record."

Waver looked at the machine with trepidation, but there was a spark of intrigue in his eyes.

Alexander was reading quietly nearby, but he watched Sam and Waver interact with approval.

Sam coached Waver in how to use the machine, and once he got the hang of it he started looking into mysterious events from the past sixty years. It went back a hundred, but if he wanted to get that far back he'd have to hire a private investigator who knew what they were doing.

Of course that wasn't nearly as entertaining as trying to teach him how to use the internet.

Because of how outdated the news reel machine was, Waver had been able to figure it out fairly quickly. Most Magi _hated_ the new technology, but that machine had been fairly old and didn't have many options.

A laptop was another story entirely.

"Gah! What did I hit this time?!" said Waver, looking at the page in shock.

"I forgot my brother had an annoying habit of leaving his bookmarks on _my_ laptop," said Sam in nostalgic annoyance. Waver had accidentally logged on to the "Busty Asian Beauties" website.

With expert ease, he clicked out before someone else saw that blasted site. Too bad Alexander had seen it.

"Fascinating. This machine can allow you to see such images?"

"Welcome to the wonders of the internet. You can chat with people hundreds or thousands of miles away, search for funny cat videos...and let's not forget the main use, look up porn," said Sam dryly.

Alexander looked beyond pleased with Sam's laptop, and it wasn't hard to guess his thought processes.

"And then there's _my_ preferred use of the internet. Research," said Sam. He quickly typed in "Alexander the Great" into _Google_ and it brought up several sites.

He definitely had Iskander hooked now.

Sam typed in "Norse Runes and their meaning" for Waver's benefit, and it brought up a site that had various runes and their potential meaning since it was a dead language. Now he had Waver hooked.

"Where can I get one of these again?" asked Waver interested. This device seemed much more useful than a calculator, and most Magi wouldn't tolerate even that around their workshops. They were more apt to use an abacus or something equally outdated.

It was a miracle they even had indoor plumbing.

"I can take you to an electronics store to pick the best one," said Sam.

"I'm going to head off to see if my old friend is around," said Enkidu.

In reality he was going to astralize discreetly, so he could follow Sam around without being seen by Iskander.

* * *

 _An hour later..._

Shopping with Iskander and Waver was as amusing as he had hoped. Iskander had such a big personality and Waver was such a wimp that together it was hilarious to watch them.

Still, he had helped Waver find the best laptop for his budget and a tablet big enough for Rider to use. It wasn't hard to get him hooked on war simulation games, which left him occupied for hours on end.

It was easier helping Waver set up his new toy, and showing him how to use it. For a teenager he was shockingly out of touch when it came to using technology. But he was a quick learner.

"Why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you helping me so much?" clarified Waver.

Sam ducked his head. To be honest he didn't really have a reason... well he did, but it was somewhat silly.

"You remind me of myself when I was younger. I was scrawny and short before I hit a major growth spurt, and then I was taller than my older brother," admitted Sam. "I was a bit of a bookworm as well, and once got into Stanford on a full ride. I wanted to be a lawyer."

Waver's eyes looked at Sam, who easily hit past the six foot mark, and tried to imagine him short and scrawny. He didn't doubt Sam's intelligence, as he had recognized the quiet genius that lay behind his kind eyes.

"Really?"

"I hit a late growth spurt, and before I was nineteen I sprouted like a weed until I towered over my older brother. Dean wasn't too happy when he realized his baby brother was going to be taller than he was," chuckled Sam. He had pouted for weeks, before going on a binge drinking spree that ended with a monumental hangover that Sam had taken far too much amusement in lording over him.

"You sound like you really love your brother," said Waver.

"I do. He was a monumental pain in the ass, and a total jerk, but he was always there for me. He practically gave up his own childhood keeping me safe from harm from the things our dad hunted."

"He sounds like a formidable ally," said Iskander.

"He was. If there was one person I could always count on to have my back, even when we were in the middle of a massive prank war, it was Dean," said Sam.

"What happened to him?"

"Hellhounds and a white-eyed demon killed him," said Sam, his eyes no longer filled with kindness, but a sort of directionless rage. If he saw Lilith he would kill her, no questions asked.

Waver didn't get it, but Iskander nodded.

"Such is the fate of those who make deals on crossroads," said Iskander.

"What I don't understand is why they only gave him a year before the deal came due. All the other ones we've heard of were had a ten year deadline," said Sam.

"Who knows what demons have in mind for mortals? I was fortunate enough to get as far as I did without infernal help," said Iskander sagely.

Seeing the look in Waver's eyes, Sam held up a hand.

"If you're really interested in the supernatural, and not whatever magical creatures exist, I can tell you as much as I know. But if you want to try hunting for yourself, I suggest you call a friend of mine first. He's used to greenhorns calling for help, and he has a lot of esoteric books in his small library," said Sam. He then remembered who helped him summon Enkidu. "Or I could ask the guy who told me about the ritual in Fuyuki for advice, he seemed pretty knowledgeable about 'magic'."

"Who told you about Fuyuki's ritual?" asked Waver.

"Someone with the username _Kaleidoscope_Wizard_. Why are you turning pale?"

"Did you just say _Kaleidoscope_?" said Waver paling. There was only one person who would have the knowledge about the Grail Wars and the ability to show a complete novice in the ways of magecraft how to summon a Servant...not that he had seen any around Sam yet.

The Wizard Marshal, master of the Second True Magic Kaleidoscope.

Zelretch, the biggest troll in Clock Tower.

"Why, do you know him?" asked Sam.

"I know _of_ him. He's a monumental troll that takes apprentices then plays humiliating pranks on them until they quit in disgrace! Several departments throw parties when he leaves! Being picked by him personally is tantamount to having your sanity driven to the brink!" said Waver hyperventilating.

Sam didn't think anyone could possibly be _that_ bad. Then again he had never met Zelretch personally.

* * *

Sam was out trying to find Caster's Master (he had a vague description from Enkidu to work off of) when he stumbled across a figure hunched over in a dirty alley.

He looked worse than Sam had ever felt after a particularly _nasty_ hunt. Yet for some reason he didn't think any hospital could help this poor soul.

Unlike the people on the street, who made a point to ignore his suffering, Sam discreetly checked for a pulse.

The man had a weak, but fast heart beat that went at an irregular tempo. He was feverish and pale, and it looked like he had either been through unimaginable torture, or he was still dealing with it.

In short he looked a lot like what some poor bastard who had been a demon's plaything in hell would look like.

" _Sam. I think this man is a Master,"_ said Enkidu in warning. Likely Berserker's Master, since he had been unable to find him.

"Well I'm not leaving him here, even if that is the case," said Sam stubbornly.

Using his strength, he was able to pick the man up in a sort of piggyback carry. He could tell just by looking at him that his left side was almost completely paralyzed from something.

The man was so weak he was unable to properly wake up, despite the rather ungracious way Sam was carrying him through the back streets. With Enkidu's help he got the unconscious figure to an abandoned warehouse close to where his hotel was. It was also where he kept his things, since a lifetime of hunting had taught him you could never be too paranoid.

It wasn't until near morning that he woke up, though whatever was wrong with him was something internal.

"Where... am I?" he asked blearily.

"A warehouse on the other side of the bridge," said Sam calmly in English. His Japanese was passable, but from what he could tell most of the Masters could speak English as well.

The man tried to sit up, but nearly vomited for his efforts. Sam slowly handed him a cup of water, making sure he could see what he was doing.

"Thanks. Who are you?"

"Call me Sam. I found you unconscious in an alley last night while looking for someone, and with all the recent murders I couldn't exactly leave you there."

"...My name is Kariya."

Once Kariya was able to breath normally, after several spasms of pain, he decided to try small talk.

"So what are you hunting?"

"Caster's Master. There's no way I can deal with the monster that's killing children directly, but once I find his Master they're dead men," said Sam rather bluntly.

Kariya choked on his water.

"You know about..."

"Let's just say I'm an unofficial Master," said Sam. Enkidu made a point to appear, but it was clear that neither were really interested in targeting Kariya at the moment.

"Heh. I shouldn't be a Master either, but I did it to save someone precious. If I get the Grail, she will be spared from her fate," said Kariya, relaxing. He could sense Berserker at the edge of his mind, so he didn't really fear this odd duo.

Sam's sad smile made Kariya pause. There was a strange feeling of empathy coming from him.

"I joined to save someone as well, but it wasn't until after the fact that someone was kind enough to tell me that this particular relic wouldn't have the power needed to make it a reality."

Enkidu might never have been human, but he had been kind enough to explain in detail why the Grail simply couldn't bring Dean back or free him from hell.

However when Sam heard the full description of the Grail, and what the magic could do, the first thing he realized was that there wasn't any real way to save Dean with this power.

Which was why he went a different route once he was told the truth.

If he couldn't save Dean with this power, maybe he could find a way to save himself. He had been so caught up with trying to bring Dean back, or at least free him from hell that he was starting to lose sight of his own life.

Hence why he was treating the entire Grail War as a much needed vacation to re-prioritize his life and try to figure out where he should go from here.

He still wanted to kill Lilith, that hadn't changed, but now he had to figure out if he wanted to continue acting as a hunter or try to settle down and hope for the best.

One thing was for certain though. He wasn't going to trust Ruby again. She had kept the fact Lilith had his brother's contract from him the entire time, and he vaguely recalled seeing her nearby whenever he ran into a warehouse full of demons that he narrowly escaped from.

"So who are you trying to save," asked Sam.

Kariya really looked at Sam, and sensed a kindred spirit in him. This was someone who could relate to Kariya's predicament.

"A little girl. She's the daughter of a childhood friend that was handed over to my family because I refused to learn our family's mysteries, and now she's suffering for it. If I can get the Grail then my father has agreed to release her from the horrors of our family's magecraft," said Kariya.

"What happened?"

Kariya's laugh was bitter and full of pain.

"My _father_ happened. I don't know if there is anything human left in him anymore. Not after he perfected those damn worms of his," he said bitterly.

Sam froze.

"Your father isn't human?"

"If he is, I would be very surprised," said Kariya dryly.

"Then I have no reason _not_ to help you rescue this little girl. It's basically what my family does."

Kariya looked at him oddly.

"Saving people, hunting things...it's what my brother and I did for a living for years."

"You're a Hunter?"

Sam blinked.

"You're the first person I've met who actually understood that without comparing me to an Enforcer," he said surprised.

Kariya chuckled.

"Most Magus-born have never met a Hunter, unless they were an Enforcer themselves. I've met one or two, and even helped with the research. If you really are a hunter, you might be able to help me after all."


	4. Chapter 4

Sam wondered how his brother would handle the Grail Wars. So far he had managed to either befriend Masters, or convince the Servants he wasn't worthy pursuing as an enemy.

So far he had made two tentative allies in the Masters.

Waver Velvet, a third generation Magus who accepted that while Sam wasn't a Magus, he was a very close equivalent to an Enforcer. Waver seemed to gravitate to him because Sam had the confidence of a warrior (which coming from Iskander was a major compliment) he had the same drive and intelligence of a scholar. Naturally it was the scholar aspect and the fact he could patiently teach Waver to use technology that appealed to the timid kid.

Kariya was a Magus-born that had abandoned the teachings. Considering what little Sam knew of the "Matou-family magecraft" it was probably a good thing. He was also the ONLY Master Sam had met who knew what a hunter was. He had only one goal in this war... to save a little girl from being used as worm food.

Sam had sworn on his life that if Kariya could get Sakura out of the mansion before the war ended, he would do everything in his power to take her with him to America, where Zouken's influence wasn't nearly as strong.

Most Magus-born lived in or around Europe and the fringes of Asia. Because of the prevalence of Hunters in America who would view the more unsavory Magi as "witches", they tended to avoid North America.

Add into the fact that Sam moved around a lot, and that the closet thing to a permanent address was Bobby's house, and that made it even harder to track him.

And anyone asking questions about an abused little girl with an Asian accent was liable to get shot by Bobby. He didn't like trespassers and he was very fond of children.

Out of the Servants, so far it seemed that most were willing to ignore him once they found out he was very interested in their side of the story when it came to their personal history.

Indeed Rider was very fond of Sam and wouldn't likely target him at all unless he presented a clear and visible threat to his Master. Which wasn't likely, because Waver was like an awkward little brother with little confidence. Waver certainly seemed to act as though Sam was an older brother figure.

Though to be honest, he had a tentative alliance with Gilgamesh purely because he was the only thing keeping Enkidu around, and he was willing to humor the golden king and spread his name so that people actually remembered him. So long as he came when he was guaranteed amusement, Tokiomi didn't need to know that his servant was fraternizing with a hunter in between battles.

Right now though, Sam was trying to locate discreet channels with which he could use to get Sakura a passport. Once the war was over or a big enough distraction was made, Kariya would remove Sakura from the Matou mansion and bring her to an agreed meeting place. She would stay with Sam until the war was about to wind down and he would take her to America with him as his 'niece'. Considering how much Dean slept around, it wasn't that far fetched that she might be his daughter. She was young enough.

Anything had to be better than her current situation, even if it meant Kariya never saw her again.

* * *

Sam busted Iskander when he went to steal a keg from the local market.

Sighing, he left enough American currency to pay for it without leaving traces of him being there.

"So where are you going with that ridiculous amount of alcohol? Waver's a bit young to be drinking and there's no way we can finish that massive thing in one night," asked Sam. That is if Enkidu even _liked_ drinking wine.

Iskander laughed.

"Nay, though I would not begrudge you or Midori from joining the gathering I have planned! No, my intent is to have a discussion of the kings in Saber's castle!" said Rider proudly.

Sam perked up at that.

"Think Saber would be offended if I asked her basic questions about her time period and history?" he asked hopeful. So far the response to that had been in the positive direction.

Since he clearly wasn't a normal civilian, but wasn't a Master, for the most part the Servants seemed to be willing to humor him in regards of giving details of their history. Then again he had only really talked to two who generally didn't care to hide who they were in the first place, like Gilgamesh or Iskander.

The fact he fully planned to find a way to publish the books, even if it had to be in the fiction section, was a minor matter. Gilgamesh had pretty much hit the nail on the head when he called Sam a "scribe" or a "bard" when he realized he was actually writing down everything.

* * *

Sam met up with Waver and Iskander on the road, and Enkidu stood watching the world fly by as Sam leaned against the wood. It was definitely more interesting than watching the scenery while in the Impala, that was for sure. But even he had to admit the expression on Saber's face learning that they had only come to drink (or in Sam's case ask questions) was hilarious. Especially when the moment Gilgamesh showed up (having also been invited by Rider), Enkidu promptly gravitated towards him and sat by his right side.

It was something of a surprise when Gilgamesh brought out five cups, as opposed to four. Apparently he deemed Sam worthy enough to partake in one of his many treasures.

Sam made sure to sip slowly, both to savor it and to make sure he didn't get drunk off the wine. It was a much higher proof than he was used to, and he could tell from the first drink that it was the sort of thing that would knock a rookie on their ass.

Sam carefully probed Saber about her time (Berserker, once the helmet was removed, had quite a bit to say about King Arthur...like the fact "he" was really a "she"), and quickly drew some parallels between the king Lancelot spoke of and Saber.

Apparently because he had arrived so late, he had missed the unofficial announcement that King Arthur had been summoned as a Saber servant. But being rather quick witted, he figured out that much himself.

And with her identity blown anyway, there wasn't much reason to hide her personal history so long as she didn't allude to any weaknesses. Like the other Servants, Saber didn't seem to overly mind sharing her personal history or interesting details about her time period.

It was when they discussed what it meant to be a king that things turned...ugly. At least enough that Sam felt he had to say _something_ before a fight broke out.

"So just to be clear, you blame yourself for the fact Britain fell to ruin after Mordred mortally wounded you."

Saber nodded.

"I failed my subjects. I should have done more to protect them," said Saber.

Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Please don't kill me for this, or be too offended... but are you completely insane?"

Iskander choked on his drink, before giving Sam a rather odd look.

"What."

"You were what, fifteen, maybe sixteen when you took up Caliburn and ascended to the throne? And you definitely spent at least ten or so years bringing Camelot to life. Considering the war-like time period, it was only natural that the kingdom fell apart once the lynch pin holding it together was removed. And what makes you think you failed to begin with?"

"My kingdom was destroyed and turned to ruin! My knights scattered and the country into war! How is that not a hallmark of failure?"

"You do realize that Britain is still considered one of the major powerhouses of the world, right? Do you think Richard the Lionheart felt guilty about what his brother did in his absence while he was fighting in the Crusades? Does Iskander look upset about the fact his empire split apart and his generals scattered when he died, trying to conquer the world?"

Iskander seemed to preen under the reminder, as he didn't feel one iota of remorse over how his kingdom fared upon his demise. Yes, it was a shame he couldn't complete his dream, but he made a damn good run of it and gave it his best shot. He had been a good ruler and a damn fine general and that was all anyone could ever ask of him!

"You have no idea what you're talking about," said Saber, angry and feeling some shame that she was being lectured.

"Don't I? It seems pretty clear to me, _Saber_ , that you should have lived a bit more before you attempted to rule a country. No kingdom is meant to last forever, and from they way you've been acting it's pretty clear you feel ashamed that your legend ended on someone else's terms. I dare you to point out ONE hero or legendary figure who had a happy ending and died of old age. Not even Jesus, the son of god himself had a happy end to his legend," said Sam flatly. He wasn't sure if it was the alcohol talking or the fact that Saber grated on him for some reason.

Saber stared at him. Gilgamesh and Iskander both snorted in agreement.

"And lets not forget all the heroes that were inspired the by the tales of chivalry and nobility that came from your legends and the legends of Camelot. If you succeeded in changing your own history, what becomes of those that took solace in the ideal image of the knight that you created? You managed to change history as surely as Iskander changed the idea of warfare, or the way Jesus changed religion. Are you really comfortable with the idea of abolishing the image of a noble knight and allowing the legacy that you created with it to be destroyed, just because you didn't like the way it ended?"

"...I changed the idea of warfare?" said Iskander, intrigued.

"When people talk of battle tactics and combat, your name comes up a lot," said Sam without hesitation. "And if you want to see what happens when someone tries to create a regime that lasts forever, look up what happened with Hitler and the Third Reich."

Saber looked like she had swallowed a lemon. To be fair, she wasn't expecting the scribe Iskander brought to ask such hard questions. And she could tell just from his eyes alone that he did know what he was talking about. He had lost someone close, someone very, very dear to him and was still reeling from the loss.

And really, the questions he asked her did force her to think. Was she really that petty to want to erase her own history, just because the ending wasn't one she liked?

"Tell me Saber...what exactly do you think a king is?" asked Iskander.

From the way Arturia spoke about nobility and giving one's self to the people, Sam and Iskander, in a rare show of agreement both shook their head.

While he was no king, even he could tell that Saber's ideal of a king was wrong and misguided.

"Saber, all those things you spoke of might suit a knight and possibly a noble. But it does not sound like a king in the least," said Sam. "Even Gilgamesh, as arrogant and cold as he is to everyone save his best friend, is more of a king than you are."

Saber glared at him.

"Sam is correct. A king must show his people what they must strive for. A king must be the epitome of a leader, not one who caters to the whims of the people. He must be greedier than any other. It is not the king who must make offerings, but the people," said Iskander.

"Those are the words of a tyrant!" said Saber.

"One man's hero is another man's villain. Can you honestly say that you, Saber did not make enemies trying to force your vision of peace and prosperity on your country? That your heirs were not cut down by those who didn't agree with your idea of peace?" said Sam.

Saber was silent.

"If you seek peace, you must prepare for war," quoted Sam.

"Indeed," said Iskander. "We are heroes because we are tyrants. However Saber...if a king regrets his rule or it's conclusion, then that king is naught but a fool. Even worse than a tyrant."

"Iskander, your reign ended and your kingdom split into three parts. Your heirs slain and your vast empire a shadow of what it was. Are you saying you have no regrets about that end?"

"As Sam said, no kingdom is meant to last forever. And more to the point, it is rare for a legendary figure such as ourselves to experience what many would claim to be a happy end. No, it is more likely we are cut down either from greed, ambition, or pride. I have no regrets. So long as it came to pass by my judgment and my retainers' sacrifices. Destruction was inevitable. I shall grieve and weep, but regret, never," said Iskander firmly.

"But..."

"The last thing I would ever wish for is to undo it! To wish for such a thing would make a mockery of everything we fought for, and to all those that fought with me!"

"Only warriors would glory in destruction! Oh what worth is a king that fails to protect the powerless?"

Sam decided to try another tactic.

"Even _I_ know it's impossible to save everyone. Tell me Saber, what happens to a forest when it is struck down by a rampaging fire? What happens to a kingdom that is weakened, but not destroyed by natural disaster or war?"

"It falls into disarray," she replied.

Sam snorted in derision.

"Clearly you've never taken notice of how stubborn humanity as a whole can be. When a forest is burned down from wild fire or a controlled burn, it gives way to new growth. After being devastated by a crippling depression, when challenged by Germany, Japan and the might of the Hitler's forces, America rose from the ashes of the second world war and became one of the major super powers that keeps the rest of the world in check. Just because a kingdom is destroyed and the remnants are scattered doesn't mean that it's completely forgotten."

Iskander looked rather pleased that Sam was on his side in this matter.

"Just out of curiosity, who exactly taught you what it means to be a king?" asked Sam.

"Merlin."

"So basically Merlin was deliberately setting you up for a nasty fall, even BEFORE you took up Caliburn," said Sam.

"What?" said Saber, caught completely off guard by Sam's switch in the conversation.

"Either that or someone told you of Uther's excess and then made sure that you didn't follow the same path, except you too things way too far and no one corrected you in time," continued Sam.

Saber gaped unseemly at him.

"What?"

"Because really, the image of a king you present is far too reminiscent of the son of Christ, and not a flawed king that humanity could easily accept. A king that has no flaws and works hard to serve the people, instead of having the people serve him? There was no way that such a king would have a happy ending. When god created humans, he made them flawed and gave them free will. It's humanity that can't handle the idea of someone without flaws."

It was truly a pity Assassin had to show up, and ruin the discussion. Sam thought he was making some rather good headway in getting Saber to understand that her wish wasn't one that would make her happy.

And after meeting the famous King Arthur personally, Sam realized he'd be happier learning more about the time period from Lancelot rather than Arthur.

It was true about the saying that you shouldn't meet your heroes.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks to Sam and his open interest in the personal history and experiences of the Servants, Waver ended up having a long, rather in depth discussion with Iskander that went far into the night. He found it hard to be irritated with him, and would later be grateful for the experience long after the war ended. In a bit of amusement, Iskander actually signed an 'autograph' on a history book Sam had given Waver that was all about Alexander the Great. It got a few things wrong, but it got the basic gist of it right. And thanks to Sam, Waver would have plenty of stories from Rider's point of view to read for years later.

In fact they were out having a day off when Caster decided he was tired of skulking in the shadows and chose to make a real mess of things.

The Grail Wars were supposed to be _secret_ and clandestine, not overt acts that grabbed attention of every person in the damn city!

Sam, rather than get busted for being an unofficial master (which was an almost guarantee to being killed, or at least targeted by everyone still active) decided that now was the perfect time for Kariya to abscond with Sakura.

With everyone watching Caster and the battle to rid the war of his madness, no one would be observing them attacking the Matou manor and making a mess of things there.

Zouken certainly wouldn't anyway. He would almost certainly expect Kariya to go after Tokiomi, since he had finally made himself a viable target.

Sam nodded to Kariya. Because he had no circuits, he wouldn't trip most of the barriers around the house. And with Enkidu using his ability to sense everything around him through the earth, he was able to locate and avoid the extra sentries. The worms were particularly foul and were veritable flares to his senses.

Even Lancelot, who thanks to a carefully worded use of a command seal was no longer insane, agreed to one important thing.

Zouken had to go.

Between the two of them, Kariya was able to liberate Sakura from the mansion while Sam had Enkidu set the worm pit on fire. Thanks to the judicious use of 'holy oil' and a pack of matches, the worms were quickly set ablaze.

It was honestly harder to get out, but Lancelot was able to carry his Master out of the house. For some bizarre reason, being around Sam made the worms go quiet. Almost inert.

"Where are you going to take Sakura?" asked Kariya.

"I might be able to gain sanctuary for her at the Church. At the very least the priest seems to like me enough that he'd be willing to watch her. As much as I hate it, it would probably be best if I joined in on the battle at the waterfront."

Sam had firmly set himself up as an Observer, one who had only come to watch and meet with the Servant, rather than participate.

It was unusual, but so far the other Masters were willing to ignore his presence. Considering he had been seen with Gilgamesh and Rider, the common consensus was that he was a part of their teams, though it was debatable which one.

"Be careful. If they find out about Enkidu..."

"He will be joining Gilgamesh. It's safe to assume that Archer will not let anything happen to his friend. As for me, I'll be doing damage control. The cover story will be a monster movie that got out of hand. That should be more than enough, especially considering my accent," said Sam dryly.

Once people heard his Midwest American accent, they'd assume it was an American film crew from some Hollywood B-movie. The fines and fees alone would keep any such film from being produced, so no one would question the lack of evidence after the fact.

The priest might very well hide Sakura in the church temporarily for Sam's help in hiding this mess alone.

* * *

Risei didn't question the fact Sam was hiding Tohsaka's second child in his church. Not after Sam told him he was going to be doing damage control for such a small favor.

The idea of having the American hunter claiming it was a cheap monster movie was a godsend in his eyes. He was dreading having to explain what really happened to the authorities.

Sakura, for the most part, was sleeping in the basement oblivious to the world around her. She had been carried to the Church by Sam, and there was something about his aura that the worms really, really didn't like at all. So much so she could barely feel their presence.

Sam borrowed a bulky camera, mostly for appearances sake. As far as anyone would know, he was just a lowly cameraman out to get a better angle. Risei was so relieved for the perfect cover to this mess that he went one step further. He loaned Sam a set of Black Keys and a shroud to hide them form casual view from the police. That way he could defend against any...surprises... from Caster or his master. There was no way a gun would be anything but a mere blip on Caster or his monsters.

And considering Sam's strong faith in god, Risei had no doubts the young man would be able to use them.

Sam promptly went to where Saber's fake Master was standing with Lancer.

"What are you..." started Irisviel, looking at the camera with open confusion.

"I'm helping the Overseer with the cover up story. Officially, this is a monster movie by an American film maker that got way out of hand. Hence the camera," said Sam, hoisting the thing onto his shoulder.

"Smart," said Lancer in approval.

And since Sam had spread that particular rumor before going down to the river where they were waiting, it wouldn't be long before it spread online.

"Who are you again?" asked Lancer.

"Call me Sam. I'm more of an observer who's interested in the tales from the personal view of the Servants. For the most part they don't seem to mind. So which one are you, besides Lancer I mean?"

"Diarmund."

"Diarmund... are you from Celtic legends like Saber?" asked Sam.

"Indeed."

"I think I've read about you before. At least people don't doubt your existence like they do Saber's."

Lancer and Irisviel blinked.

"What?"

"Well there's actually a lot of speculation on whether or not King Arthur actually existed. To the point where people actually believe Arthur and Camelot are as made up as Atlantis was," admitted Sam. He was hoping _that_ tidbit got back to Saber after this. "In fact people believe in Cuchulain more than they do Arthur. They consider him a fairy tale."

Lancer, despite the situation they were in, felt rather...amused, hearing that his existence wasn't dismissed as a fairy tale. At least people acknowledged he had lived at some point.

Sam occasionally moved up the river bank to get a better angle... and to spread the rumor that this was a monster movie among the civilians. He actually _was_ recording this...but that was mostly giving Enkidu a camera and telling him to have fun filming his king and the others fighting Caster. The last thing they needed was for Tokiomi to learn about his existence.

It wasn't until Saber's actual Master took out the insane Master of Caster that things really got interesting...and made him glad that he had given Enkidu that camera.

Enkidu helpfully aimed the lens at Saber, ignoring his King for now. Gilgamesh was too busy having fun with Berserker, and right now the action was more with Saber and Rider.

For all her faults and childish nature, Saber's Noble Phantasm was indeed something to be in awe of. Excalibur was truly worthy of it's legend, even if it's owner was a fool.

* * *

Sam returned to the Church...only to find the priest dead and the most unusual message written in blood. He dropped the camera in shock and went to check for a pulse.

There was none. But more than that, it was very, very clear that the priest had been blind from the start.

Sam said a short prayer in Latin, before closing the man's eyes.

"It would seem that things are starting to come to a close in this war. I do not like that someone blatantly murdered the Overseer without bothering to hide the fact," said Enkidu frowning.

Sam suddenly remembered the little girl sleeping in the basement. He felt nothing but relief that she had slept through the priest's murder. She had suffered enough already.

"It looks like I'll have to step up getting us out of here. With Caster out of the way and the priest dead, the other Masters are only going to get more vicious before this war is out," said Sam. Considering none of the mages seemed overly bothered by Caster's atrocities outside of the fact that they brought too much attention, he knew that his brief time as an Observer was quickly coming to an end.

"I may be able to help with that," said a voice from behind him. It sounded so empty that Sam felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

He turned to find...the priest's son?

"Are you Kirei?" he asked carefully.

"I am. You must be the hunter that fascinated my father."

There was a tense stand off between them. At least until Kirei went to the alter and pulled something out.

It was a sheaf of official looking documents.

"What are those?"

"Documents that allow one to cross borders and establish new identities, courtesy of the Church. The cops and other agencies won't dare question the presence of anyone holding these. Of course, only sanctioned members of the Burial division can use them. Which really begs the question... why should I hand such documents over to a hunter."

"I only came to observe when I found out that my wish wouldn't be granted. I have no interest in any plots or maneuvers for the Grail."

Kirei looked at his father's body, before an idea occurred to him. The war still needed an Overseer, and he knew Hunters often pretended to be priests. And he wanted to know what his father found so interesting about this hunter.

"I'll offer you an arrangement. Take my father's place as Overseer until the war is over and ignore my own comings and goings. In exchange I'll give you all the documentation you'll need to leave with the girl."

"Fair enough."

The Church was accorded neutral territory, and none of the Masters wanted to piss them off. And pretending to be a priest was an old hat for him. He could pull it off for a week or so.

Coming up with cover stories was easy enough. He had literally thought up that monster movie idea out of his ass.

"I might need help arranging the cover stories with the authorities," said Sam.

"You let me handle that," said Kirei.

With the temporary truce set up, Sam went back to the hotel to grab his things. He might as well set up shop and keep the ruse going. He could really care less what the priest's son was up to so long as he didn't descend into the same nonsense Caster did.

* * *

"Wha... You're acting as Overseer?!" said Waver in disbelief.

"The original one was murdered by someone. I suspect it was Lancer's Master, since the reports I found said the man was put into a wheelchair by Saber's Master. Anyway I needed some papers to help get someone out of the country, and Assassin's Master, who happened to be the Overseer's son agreed to help so long as I took over the role. He wasn't interested in it, and he needs to make the arrangements to bury his father," said Sam.

"Yeah, but what if people find out you're not a priest?" said Waver.

"That's not going to be a problem. It's not the first time I've faked being a member of the cloth," said Sam dryly.

"Wha... seriously?"

"People tell priests and cops things they'd never tell a perfect stranger. So long as they don't look too deeply, you can get a lot of information and narrow down what you're hunting by asking the family of the victims."

And really, dressing up as a priest wasn't that hard. Even Kirei admitted that if he hadn't known better, he'd believe Sam to be a lower member of the Church there to act as a temporary replacement.

Besides, it gave Sam the added benefit of being protected until the war ended. Which meant he could continue getting stories from the Servants as long as he didn't provide aid to any of them.

On the plus side, Enkidu was able to keep Gilgamesh happy while he drank Kirei out of house and home. He wasn't going to ask, since the last he checked, Sakura's birth father had been Archer's Master.

Kirei had given Sam a look, before Sam made it clear it wasn't his business why Gilgamesh was apparently contracted to Kirei now. To be honest, so long as he got Sakura out of there, he really _could_ care less. And really, if Kirei killed Tokiomi, then he _definitely_ had it coming for what he put his youngest daughter through.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam felt a bit weird acting as an actual priest. Fortunately Japan wasn't predominately a Christian or Catholic area. Most of the people in Fuyuki were Shintoists or Buddists. There was even a major temple up on the hill.

Kirei refined his priest disguise, at least enough to fool anyone that seriously studied the faith. Along with the agreement to let him past the customs and allowing the security to overlook Sakura's presence (not to mention the weapons), he also managed to wipe Dean and Sam's "criminal" records that they got because of shifters.

One might ask why Kirei went the extra step to wipe the slate clean.

The answer was actually simple.

Sam agreed to bring Gilgamesh and Enkidu to America, and to send them back to Fuyuki in the event that the Grail wasn't won this time around. It was a nice little nest egg and kept Gilgamesh from drinking his entire collection of wine.

That and even the brief amount of time around the golden king spoke volumes of what a headache it would be to keep him from being bored. Letting him tour America with a Winchester was a small price to pay to set things up for the next war.

Because in all honesty, the odds of actually winning this war, even with Gilgamesh, was too damn low not to make contingency plans. Like having the younger Winchester owe the Church enough to take on missions every once in a while. Hunters were extremely adept at finding rogue Magi and Dead Apostles, and they didn't let things like religious doctrine hold them back from getting information. And they were equally adept at hiding from their targets.

It wouldn't hurt to have a Hunter working with them, off the books. Especially ones as good as the Winchesters.

Sam kept the suspicion off his activities and kept any parishioners happy.

Kariya made one last visit to see Sakura. What he saw left him deliriously happy with the plan he made with the American Hunter.

Sakura was still up in the air about her situation, but thanks to bribing Gilgamesh she was more or less free from the worms. And once she was in America, she would be in the wind. Sam didn't really _have_ an address to track, and he never stayed in hotels that kept computer records. And if he did, it was always under a fake name.

Sam also had a solid plan for her magical education. If she still wanted to pursue it.

Waver Velvet. The teen had a decent grasp on basic magecraft, and he was relatively fond of Sam...in a brotherly way. The two of them had bonded over research, and Waver looked up to him enough to help Sakura out. Not to mention the fact Sam had a good strategy for her to get into Clock Tower, if she was inclined.

Hunters sometimes ran into a Magus' workshop, unaware of their actual status. And if Sam knew hunters (which he did) then odds were they'd keep the books until they found someone who could translate them. Most of Magi rarely used English to write their personal diaries, and they almost always used code.

Sam was already reaching out to his fellow hunters asking them for hand written books with odd languages and in code with specific code words. Things like "Akasha", "Root", "Prana", "Circuits".

He was getting several e-mails from varying hunters all around the US who had such books and were looking to make trades or were willing to sell them outright using drop points.

They didn't know _why_ he wanted the books, but they also trusted the name Winchester enough to at least believe his story of hunting an unusual Witch who had access to similar books. As far as they knew, he was looking for a specific connection to track the witch down.

Sakura would be safe, under a new name, and far from Zouken. And thanks to the fact Kirei had murdered Tokiomi, there was no way anyone would be able to force Sakura back. Aoi might, but she wouldn't try it unless she thought she could keep her daughter. As far as she knew, Sakura was still with the Matou family.

He was already a dead man. He could die in peace knowing he had saved the little girl from a fate far worse than death.

* * *

Sam was the first person Waver ran into after Iskander died fighting Gilgamesh. He said nothing, but he pulled Waver into a hug. In the short time he had been around the tall hunter, Waver had come to see Sam as an older brother figure. He would walk tall and make Iskander proud when he finally saw him again, but right now, he was letting his defenses drop and mourning the loss of Rider.

Waver had no more interest in the Grail. He would stick around to see the ending of it, but after that he was gone back to England.

The first thing he saw was a little girl reading the bible.

"Who's this?"

"This is Judy Winchester, or she will be when we reach the States again."

"Will be?" repeated Waver.

Sam coughed.

"I may or may not have made a temporary alliance with another Master in order to take her from one of the three families who started this mess. Anyway I'm acting as the Overseer until the war ends since there isn't anyone else who qualifies as a 'neutral party' who's in the know."

Sam wasn't an actual Master, regardless of whether or not Midori was a Servant. Officially, all seven Masters were in play before he entered the war. Risei _never_ alerted the Church or the Mages Association of a possible eighth master. Just that a Hunter accidentally stumbled into the war and was looking for Caster. He had openly met with the Servants, mostly to hear their stories and histories...but outside of a one-time agreement with Kariya had made no real alliance with any of the Masters.

He was considered a neutral observer. The fact he could act as a priest and come up with a good enough story to placate the cops and innocents in the war meant that they were willing to ignore his existence.

Besides, all indications pointed towards the war being over in less than a week, likely days. There wasn't any point in bringing in a third party this late into the game. Not with someone willing to do the job for a few minor favors that wouldn't talk about it after the fact.

A hunter could be reasonably trusted to keep his mouth shut.

"So what are you going to do from here?" asked Sam.

"I'm heading back to England. Outside of seeing this war end, there's no reason for me to stick around Fuyuki. And really, I just want to prove Kayneth wrong even if he is dead."

"Well I might have a way to help with you making a name for yourself..." said Sam.

"It doesn't involve the one who gave you the ritual...does it?" asked Waver.

"No, no. I've been making some calls and apparently some Magi weren't as discreet or secretive as they should have been. And

hunters tend to collect books if they even remotely think they'll be useful. They've been going through their old collections and agreeing to either trade or sell the books to me...and god knows I'll need help translating some of it."

Waver blinked.

"Seriously?"

"You think the Church or your Enforcers are good at tracking down rogues? Hunters are trained to look for suspicious activity or deaths, and track down hunts that way. Magi who specifically target or use human subjects send up a ton of red flags. And when we find suspicious herbs or strange ingredients...well, we automatically think witch and act appropriately. And from what I can tell, most of your wards are based on detecting enemy Magi, and relying on secrecy and location to keep out normal people. However most, if not all hunters are regular people exposed to the supernatural and decide to do something about it."

"And hunters would use rumor and evidence to track down the Magus, find the workshop and then deal with the Magus. And since most are very behind the times and barely accept technology. So what do hunters do once they've...dealt...with the Magus?"

"Most of the time we dispose of the research materials, but we do tend to collect anything we think might be useful. Like books. Especially when they're in old, unused languages like Latin or Greek. They might prove useful later, so we put them into storage."

"So why would they be willing to give you these books?"

Sam snorted.

"Hunters are like pack rats. And just because we collect things that might be useful doesn't mean we can use them. I put the word out that I was looking for a specific witch and that I would be willing to pay or trade for books that would lead to their location and make it easier to find them. Not like they care once they get rid of the books."

"And you're letting me read these books?"

"Again, they have no use to me, but I don't want Judy to possibly neglect part of her heritage because I have no idea about how to teach her. And out of all the Masters, you're the only one who has a solid idea of what a Magus' education should be...and won't kill me outright for the books," admitted Sam.

"It doesn't matter to you whether or not I happen to copy the books, because you're not a Magus."

Sam had no interest in the Root and didn't have the same superiority complex the older families had. This was the best chance he would ever get at unrestricted access to books from other Magi, even if he couldn't use it.

Sure he would have to teach, but that was a small price to pay for such a potential treasure trove.

Besides, what little Sam told him about hunting made him openly interested. He didn't mind doing research.

* * *

Sam was one of the few people who could walk into a burning building without hesitation and come out with survivors, usually those lucky enough to escape the initial blaze. The firefighters on scene didn't question his lack of hesitation to enter buildings, but they did manage to lend him a mask so he wouldn't be affected too much by smoke inhalation.

In the back of his head, he couldn't help but wonder how Dean would have felt living out his lost childhood dream of being a fireman.

Either way, he was only peripherally present when he realized that the black, almost vile sludge that had come forth from the Grail had covered not only Gilgamesh, but Enkidu. As an unintended side effect, the two were now alive...at least as close as they were going to get anyway.

In the aftermath of what would be called the Fuyuki fire, a group of five made their way to England, at least for a little bit. Mostly so Waver could pick up a few things for his hopefully prolonged stay in America, where he would learn a few things about being a researcher for hunters.

He really didn't expect to be waylaid by the infamous Zelretch, much less for the vampire to take an interest in him, and by extension Sam.

 _In the hotel room..._

"So you're Kaleidoscope Wizard," said Sam. He certainly didn't look like any vampire he had run into before. For one thing, he didn't have the second set of teeth.

Zelretch grinned evilly.

"And you're the hunter that managed to mess with things enough to provide entertainment for a long while. Especially with her," said Zelretch, looking at Sakura...or Judy Winchester, as her passport read.

"What about her?" asked Sam, his suspicions raised.

"In the original timeline, Zouken continued to abuse her and even put fragments of the tainted Grail inside of her, thus creating a secondary persona that acted as an extension of the tainted grail. And that's not getting into the fact he had his grandson get into it by making it even worse."

Sam could think of a lot of things that would involve the other child in the house, and not a single one of them would be good. Chief among them was the idea that Zouken would have the boy joining in on the abuse he had put Sakura through.

"So why are you here?"

"Same reason he agreed to join you...outside of spending more time with Enkidu. To screw over heaven and hell for shits and giggles," said Zelretch without hesitation.

"What?" said Sam baffled.

"Your brother? He's going to be resurrected in a little over a month from now. Things get more interesting after the fact, and you'll be put on a merry chase after Lilith without anyone telling you the actual facts."

"You mean that half assed prophecy from Yahweh about the end of the world and the two idiots arguing over who daddy loved best?" said Gilgamesh dryly.

Zelretch grinned evilly before nodding.

"So in exchange for watching the angels and demons tear their hair and feathers out trying to figure out why we're not following their script, what do you get out of it?"

"I'm what popular culture calls a troll and I don't get many opportunities to screw over heaven and hell a lot. I'd probably get along with 'Loki' or the 'trickster' as you call him a little too well for anyone to like," said Zelretch.

Sam's face suddenly went impassive.

"Just to be clear, if I agree to this will you be willing to go after the trickster and give him a taste of his own medicine?" asked Sam.

"Absolutely," said Zelretch, grinning even wider now. He could already imagine the chaos!

"In that case I'm in. I want you to help me get back at that damn Trickster for the shit he pulled with the Mystery Spot," said Sam flatly.

That, and having even more potential back up never hurt. Besides, odds were Zelretch would be able to help him translate the books.

Zelretch's cackling would leave many of those in the know shuddering at what the hell the vampire had found to amuse him, before briefly praying for the sanity of whoever had caught his interest this time. It was more of a reflex than anything else.


	7. Chapter 7

Bobby's reaction to the fact Sam had left to Japan for almost three weeks and came back with a newly adopted little girl, a girlish teenager and three suspicious people who didn't exactly feel human to him?

A head slap, followed by calling him an idjit and all but demanding a damn explanation, which was also followed by no less than six more head slaps as Sam sheepishly explained things.

Still, Sam wasn't possessed or bewitched, and none of the books he worked with this "Zelretch" and Waver to translate screamed "demon-dealing witch" to him. More like the weirdest science he had ever heard of.

Meanwhile Gilgamesh and Enkidu promptly went exploring America, complete with fake ID's, Bobby's phone number, and the strict agreement not to use any magic unless someone really, really pissed Gilgamesh off. They also agreed to meet up with Sam at least once a month, just to check in.

Either that, or he'd end up bailing them out by acting as their personal lawyer. Enkidu had his card, just in case and knew to call him the moment Gilgamesh got arrested. Enkidu was too laid back to piss a cop off that badly.

* * *

 _One month, two weeks after the Grail War..._

The little girl outside the house was playing with one of her new toys when she saw him. A man who fit the basic description of Dean Winchester, or at least the photo her new father had shown in case she ran into him first.

The man looked dirty, as if he had dug himself out of the ground.

He blinked twice when he saw her playing outside. Almost as if he had trouble believing a child was at her "Uncle Bobby's" house.

Sakura, now Judy, could understand a lot more than most would give her credit for. She understood that no one could know of her original name, or the one she gained while living with Zouken. Her new name was Judy Temperance Winchester, and her daddy was Sam Winchester.

The man went inside, mostly ignoring her outside of the look he gave to her odd hair color. She heard a racket inside, and shouting. Fifteen minutes later, Waver called her inside.

Judy looked at the scene, and noted the mess inside.

Apparently the man had startled Waver in one of the experiments he was usually conducting on his little table (he was very good at keeping his messes to his area) and almost ruined the notes he had made. He was currently pinned to the floor by Bobby and Sam both.

On the side, Zelretch was laughing his ass off.

It took them a bit to confirm that it was in fact Dean, and not some shifter or demon.

That was when Sam gave a rather hurried explanation to his brother, including the fact he now had a niece.

"So let me get this straight. You entered into a tournament against people who were all to happy to kill other participants trying to bring me back or send me to heaven...and somehow came back with a daughter, a new cousin, some sort of vampire and two spirits who can slaughter anything in their path. What the fuck Sammy?"

Sam hooked a thumb at Zelretch.

"He can out-troll the Trickster and has agreed to get him back for the crap that sugar nut pulled on us last time. Judy was from an abusive situation and Waver mostly came out of curiosity on what a Hunter actually _does_. Though I can tell already I'll have to play damage control when you meet Gilgamesh and Enkidu," deadpanned Sam.

"And Ruby?" asked Dean, remembering how she hung around his brother far too much for his liking.

Sam's face went blank.

"I trapped her in the body she stole and then sent her to the Mage's Association for them to keep as their guest."

"Sammy..."

Zelretch snorted.

"You seemed to be operating under the assumption that he did her a favor. I can tell you right now the second they realize she's keeping that body alive despite the fact it should be dead, they'll put her through the full hospitality of a Magus. Human experimentation is the least of what she'll be going through, never mind what the Church will do once they get wind of her being there. If you think hell is bad, a Magus is almost worse. They can keep her alive with nothing more than a head," said Zelretch flatly.

"Oh. In that case good work Sammy."

"On the plus side, we'll never have to worry about being bored between dry hunting seasons ever again."

"Why?"

"Let me put it this way...remember how you have a criminal record that nearly got us killed because Henrickson thought we were cold blooded murderers?"

"Because of shifters. What of it?"

"Gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"I mean I found a legal way to get our records erased to the point we could cross borders or even walk into a police station and not get arrested," said Sam flatly.

"What did you do?"

"It's nothing we haven't done before, and this time we have back up. Did you know the church has an entire group dedicated to doing the same crap we do, except they get actual intel and a budget? Though most of the time it's about people like him, just with less control," said Sam, hooking a thumb at Zelretch who cheerfully waved at Dean.

"What?"

"The Church has a faction called the Executors that go after Dead apostle ancestors who get their notice, or Magi who cross the line. Think the Iscariot group from _Hellsing_ ," supplied Zelretch.

"I agreed to work with them in exchange for getting our records wiped and giving us weapons against demons," said Sam. He pulled out a trio of what looked like odd hilts without a blade.

"What are those?"

"Black keys. They're surprisingly effective on demons, vampires...a whole bunch of things that aren't human. I got them while helping out a priest, right before he was murdered."

Kirei hadn't cared if Sam kept the blades. He had his own set, and it helped with the cover that Sam was acting as temporary Overseer until after the war.

Besides no one liked demons, least of all him. Sam had vocally said he was planning to use them on Lilith, the first demon.

Such a monster would need something like a Black Key to insure the deed was done properly.

"So we're working with the Church now?"

"Freelancing whenever the hunts start drying up enough that we get bored, yes. And before you ask, they also agreed to supply us with something to knock you out."

Dean looked at his brother horrified.

"No, no, no... I draw the line at plane travel!"

"I could always dump you off wherever they're sending your brother," offered Zelretch, grinning far too widely for anyone's comfort.

"How do you plan to drop me off?"

"He uses magic to jump across dimensions. He could _literally_ put you in the Marvelverse to meet Captain America and Iron Man and get their autographs," deadpanned Sam.

He wasn't ashamed to admit that he had Zelretch dump him in other worlds to satisfy his own inner fanboy. Though meeting his "future" self from the original timeline had been very disconcerting, especially after what the other Sam had told him about what the angels actually had planned.

He wasn't going to spring that mess on Dean though. He was already suffering from information overload.

Dean looked exhausted.

"I intend to take a shower, get drunk, and then sleep it off. After that then we'll talk," said Dean flatly.

"There's apple pie in the fridge. Help yourself," said Sam. Dean flashed him a thumbs up, before heading upstairs.

* * *

Sam was not happy. But then again, no one was.

Some celestial being had woken _everyone_ up by speaking too loudly in a language he was only just now beginning to translate. He kept hearing it in the back of his head (Zelretch blamed his new appendages that he almost never let out), and sometimes they slipped into English enough that he was starting to get the gist of what they were saying.

Anyone who heard a foreign language almost constantly would eventually pick up what they were saying. It would be easier if he had someone to help translate though.

Judy tiredly rubbed her eyes, before Sam coaxed her back to sleep. She curled back up against him, using Sam as a shield from the inevitable nightmares.

Sam was just glad that Zelretch had managed to find a damn good therapist to help her work through the damage Zouken had done...that wouldn't call in the cops once they found out Sam had more or less kidnapped her from an abusive home. To be fair, Zouken never legally adopted her from her father.

Selling children was illegal no matter what country you were in. And he had checked with the local registries and found nothing that proved Zouken had filed the correct paperwork, let alone Tokiomi.

Officially the only one with legal custody of the girl was her mother, since she had never agreed to giving her daughter away in the first place. Though from what he understood she wasn't likely to contest the matter.

"What the hell was that?" demanded Dean.

"Something I have a summoning ritual for, so we can break the nose of whoever woke us up this early," said Sam crossly.

Angel of the lord or not, there was no excuse for Castiel waking up the entire damn house. Not when some of them just went to sleep.

Zelretch, damn him, had returned to his rooms in Clock Tower. Or to another world to annoy someone else. To be fair, he couldn't be seen with them this early on without making it harder.

Waver and Judy could be ignored. A dimension hopping vampire that might blow their real plan out of the water, not so much.

Yet another good thing that Gilgamesh and Enkidu were also not around.

Castiel was in for a bit of a shock once he had his vessel. Dean punched him in the nose, gave him the whole "I'm a badass angel of the lord" speech, and then left.

The next thing that Sam did was have Zelretch dump Dean with his "future" self in the alternate timeline, complete with Castiel when he was a bit more human.

Better for Dean to get the same information Sam did, then to have him scramble like an idiot.

Dean didn't know what he hated more... being stuck in a woman's body to slip past the angels, or having to use magic to get this information.

Some of the things had been averted. Sam wasn't drinking demon's blood. Dean wasn't overly suspicious his brother was going off the deep end. They actually KNEW what the angels really had planned and why. They knew that killing Lilith would bring Lucifer up, which they needed to avoid.

Fortunately, Sam had a solid plan about that issue, one that was already in the works.

He told Gilgamesh about the demon in his garden and that she planned to release the spoiled brat Lucifer. If Gilgamesh barely tolerated humans and pagan gods, he certainly hated demons. They were a nuisance even when he was still alive.

Lilith wouldn't be expecting Gilgamesh or Enkidu, and with Ruby... indisposed...she wouldn't see him coming until after he killed her.

He had more than enough toys to kill her with, once he found her. And he wasn't limited to human means to keeping her around while he did it.

 _In an alternate world..._

Zelretch was grinning wickedly as he held a certain book in his hands. Sam wanted him to teach Judy magecraft so she could be prepared for Zouken. Waver was good enough for the basics, but when it came to protection from a thing like Zouken...well, there was no kill like overkill. Good thing Sam liked dogs.

The chains rattled almost ominously, and the cross on the front of the book shone in an evil glint.

He had to restrain his evil laughter, even if he had to leave another Unison Device for Hayate to inherit.

The idea of giving Judy the Tome of the Night Sky was too funny to resist. The sheer chaos she could cause by unleashing the guardians on some random demon or angel gave Zelretch the giggles.

This was going to be hysterical.


	8. Chapter 8

If the angels were aware of the changes in Sam, they made no sign of it. From what he could tell, not a single one of them had picked up his new...additions.

Dean had laughed himself sick when he finally found out about the wings.

To be fair, his other self had done the same thing when he found out, once they confirmed Lucifer wasn't already riding shot gun.

From what Sam could tell, the angels seemed to be of the belief that any changes they could sense was due to him giving in to Ruby, despite the fact she hadn't been seen since Sam returned from Japan with his new daughter. They also hadn't picked up on the existence of Gilgamesh or Enkidu.

He was still trying to figure out what Zelretch's game was giving Judy a book none of them could open.

After Zelretch dumped Dean with his alternate self that was several years after being brought back from hell, the first thing they did was fortify Bobby's house so thoroughly that not even angels would be able to enter the house.

Learning that the angels _wanted_ Sam to be addicted to demon's blood and let Lucifer out, to the point they let him loose while under the throws of withdrawal from it, the panic room was the first thing they upgraded.

Having an updated copy of the journal made it easier.

Strangely, Sam seemed to pick up the Enochian sigils much faster than anyone else. So much so he was starting to figure out how to read the language.

It was because of the upgrades that even though the Witnesses had risen, they couldn't get _near_ the house to kill Bobby while he used the counterspell.

Castiel certainly wasn't too pleased when he tried to talk to Dean, only to find himself rebuffed by the new wards. He had to wait for Dean to leave the house.

After the short talk, Dean went to Sam.

"Well?"

"It's exactly like he said. They aren't going to help unless they think something is up."

"Good thing Cas put those runes on all of us," said Sam.

The other Castiel put Enochian runes on their ribs to hide them from angels. Everyone got the anti-possession tattoos, including Judy and Waver.

Dean still had trouble believing...but for the most part, what that other Dean told him was panning out.

Angels were being cryptic, the demons had 'no idea' what was going on, and Lilith was breaking seals.

At least they had a decent edge in this game, for once.

* * *

"Ugh... what hit me?"

Dean had fallen asleep, and woken up on a bench. It wasn't until he realized one critical fact that he copped on what happening.

He didn't see a single cell phone or Bluetooth anywhere. One look at the paper confirmed his suspicions.

"Son of a bitch! Fucking angels!"

He was in the past! Specifically the part where his grandparents were killed!

Dean's foul mood only worsened with Castiel's cryptic warning, which really didn't tell him jack.

On the plus side, he had memorized the trick to forcing an angel to get lost. A little blood was a small price to pay in order to avoid a disaster.

It wasn't until he convinced his own father to buy the Impala that an idea hit him.

He didn't have to do jack. According to the other Dean, it was because of his own actions Azazel was able to track down the Campbells and kill them, before forcing Mary to make a deal for John's life.

What Dean _hadn't_ known the first time was that the angels needed John in order to bring the brothers into the world to serve as vessels.

Ergo, no hunting down the Colt. No hunting down whoever was making deals and drawing attention to himself.

He had to play the wait and see game, and catch the yellow eyed bastard off guard. Even if John was killed by the demon, there was a chance he could still save his grandparents from him. After all, there was no way the angels would let his dad die. Not this soon anyway.

So Dean waited. Prepared for when the yellow-eyed demon would make an appearance.

Rock salt hurt like a bitch, but it wasn't lethal. And Azazel wasn't expecting to be ambushed by someone who knew how to really hurt demons.

And just to be sure, Dean stuck around long enough to help Deanna ward the place against angels and give them the anti-possession amulet he carried with him.

It wasn't until Mary came home with blood on her clothes that he knew. She had still made the deal, but this time her parents would live.

Castiel seemed rather confused by Dean's actions when he pulled him back. Still, he didn't question why Dean stuck around to make sure that Deanna and Samuel would live past the night.

* * *

Sam was about to start looking for a new hunt when he got a call. He didn't recognize the number, but he answered anyway.

"Hello?"

" _Sam_ Campbell _? It's time to start repaying the debt you owe us."_

Sam froze. The only ones who would call him Campbell was the Church. While they knew his name was Winchester, it raised far less suspicion for the demons if they called him by Campbell. That and it told him straight out who he was dealing with.

"What's the case?" he asked evenly.

" _Dead apostles in France. We would like you and your brother to make a show of good faith,"_ replied the voice.

"Where and when should we meet up with our ride?" asked Sam flatly.

He got a time and location for the plane, and a promise that they could bypass the airport security. Time for them to see if they could work with the Church or not.

"Sam? Who's on the phone?" asked Dean, having noticed Sam writing something down.

"We got a case. In France."

Dean looked openly confused. They had always operated out of America for a reason...mainly because Dean was terrified of flying.

Spotting Judy and Waver, Sam went over to them.

"Judy? It's time for you to spend time with Uncle Bobby for a little bit."

"What's going on?"

"The Church called. Dead apostle in France," Sam summed up for Waver's benefit.

"Oh. Well I've been meaning to visit Clock Tower. Being Zelretch's apprentice isn't nearly as bad as I would have thought."

Zelretch was going easy on Waver, but he was still an ass.

"I am _not_ flying," said Dean.

"You'll be knocked out the entire ride, and I highly doubt a demon will be on this one like last time," said Sam.

"Do we really have to?"

"They cleared your criminal record and had the files sealed. We kind of owe them. Besides, outside of the fact they're more or less religious zealots, would you really rather have me working with Ruby?" asked Sam flatly.

Dean scowled. He still didn't like the fact he was going to be flying and working with people he had never met. But the fact was that they were heading into a situation that involved something out of a zombie movie with a vampire.

"What exactly will we be doing?"

"Helping locate the vampire or at the very least helping with the clean up. Pretty much something of a zombie outbreak movie."

"...You're going to knock me out the second we're on the plane, right?"

"They'll have something to knock you out cold the entire flight," agreed Sam.

"Alright, but I'm not taking Baby to the airport!" said Dean, annoyed. He wasn't leaving his precious car for who knew how long.

* * *

 _Two days later..._

Judy was with Bobby and the Campbells, who weren't very amused at the game heaven was playing. Even more so that the original scenario left them dead and Mary an orphan.

At least they had a great granddaughter to spoil, even if how Sam adopted her was rather unusual.

Waver had already left for England, as he needed to do some research in Clock Tower's library.

The moment Dean had belted himself in to the seat, he knocked back some sort of tranquilizer that had him out like a light within minutes. It would last at least eight hours, ten at the most.

Sam sat back and pulled out one of his books. The one sent by the Church would be on sight, though from what little they had told him there might be a brief issue because of her apparent age.

Apparently this Ciel was somewhat young, but her commitment to the Church was strong. He had also been given a single photo to identify her on sight. She had been informed that they were coming as well, to smooth things over.

* * *

 _In Southern France..._

Dean woke up just as the plane was setting down on the tarmac. The brief jolt when he realized what he was in was quickly replaced with relief he didn't have to be awake for it. The bump as they landed woke Sam up from his nap.

"France, huh."

Sam looked out the window, and noticed someone standing next to a relatively recent car. She fit the basic description of their contact.

It took them a few minutes to get their things, but Sam was the one who broke the ice.

"Ciel? I'm Sam Campbell."

Dean knew they were using their mother's maiden name to keep the demons from finding out they left the States. Fortunately he was an old hat at cover identities.

Ciel nodded. She looked to be in her teens and had a bluish hair color. But one handshake from her told Dean all he needed to know.

She had one hell of a strong grip, and he could feel the callouses.

"There's been a minor alteration to our hunt. The Mages Association sent some Enforcers, and they've agreed to work with us. Apparently this particular abomination has been working with a rogue Magus."

Sam nodded, and they managed to pile into the car.

Ciel drove them to the hotel they would be staying at. While it wasn't a fancy place, it was still leagues above what they usually stayed in.

"We've given you a room with double beds. I hope this is acceptable."

"We're used to sharing rooms. Shall we get down to business?" asked Dean.

Ciel nodded.

* * *

 _Some days later..._

Sam shot the specially treated bullets Ciel had provided and showed him how to make. Every time he hit a ghoul in the head, they went down and stayed down. Dean was working his way back to his brother, as they had gotten briefly separated while investigating the houses.

Whatever reservations Dean might have had working with the Church or the Enforcers died when he found out that the Dead Apostle had been turning children no older than Judy. Once he got over the shock of having a niece, he spoiled the girl rotten while teaching her about hunting.

Slowly but surely, the little girl was starting to open up after her horrible ordeal.

Right as Dean was about to reach Sam, Castiel appeared without warning.

Dean swore.

"Dammit Cas, what the hell are you doing here? Can't you see we're busy?"

Castiel frowned at them both.

"Why are you in France?"

"We were spinning our wheels back home, and someone called Sam asking for help! Now either help us get rid of these damn things or stay out of the way!" said Dean, elbowing yet another ghoul before using a Black Key to behead the thing.

"Winchester! What's keeping you?" shouted one of the Enforcers. A red head from the Fraga clan, according to Ciel.

"Unexpected guest! Not ghoul or vampire!" shouted Dean.

Bazette walked in, finishing the last one in the house. She noticed the untouched Castiel immediately.

"Who or what is this?"

"I am Castiel, an angel of the lord."

She looked at Dean.

"He showed up without either of us calling him. Hell if I know why," said Dean.

"We're almost done cleaning the town of ghouls. Could use an extra hand in finishing them off. Ciel and some of the others are heading to the apostle to finish this, and hopefully find the idiot who helped him," said Bazette, taking a long drink from her water bottle.

"We'll be right out," said Sam.

She nodded and left the house.

"Why are you here?" repeated Castiel.

"We agreed to lend out experience and help with certain hunts in exchange for their help. Mostly because they cleared our criminal records and had the evidence permanently sealed. Besides...at least this way we won't have to worry about spinning our wheels between dry spells," said Sam shrugging.

To be honest, this was actually one of their easier hunts. They had well trained back up that knew what they were doing, a clear idea of what they were after and the location. Once they got over the Night of the Living Dead scenario, the rest was surprisingly easy.

They wouldn't be taking out any apostles on their own just yet, but clean up was something they could do. And no Enforcer or member of the Burial division would say no to competent help when it came to cleansing a mess like this.

Castiel tilted his head, almost like a confused bird.

His superiors had only told him to find and return the Winchesters. They said nothing about stopping them from helping the Church cleanse an apostles nest outside the US.

"How long until you return to America and go back to hunting down Lilith?"

Because really, even he could see the advantage of having the Winchesters having a good relationship with the Church. It made no sense for them to 'spin their wheels' when they had no leads when they could be helping rid the Earth of the abominations known as dead apostles.

Castiel watched from a distance as the Winchesters helped pile up corpses and set them all on fire after salting them. Within two days they were back in America, and back on the road...except this time they had a decent amount of cash for their assistance.

For once they were being _paid_ to do something they would have done for free. Apparently the Church had a consultation fee for any hunters they worked with.


	9. Chapter 9

It was hard for Castiel to understand Zachariah's ire towards him. The Winchesters were still doing God's work, and for once they were being paid for their assistance. Yet for some reason, the seraph was angry about the fact they had contact with the Church, or that they were often outside the states helping with hunts.

Hunts that had nothing to do with Lilith.

Hunts that wouldn't help along the plan to make both brothers say yes to the arch angels that would use them to bring about the end of days.

Hunts that only _increased_ the contacts they had with actual influence to make their jobs easier.

He was especially pissed about the fact that both brothers now had a set of Black Keys, for some reason.

Castiel was so confused that he was only vaguely worried as to why he was being sent down with Uriel to prevent Samhain from rising.

"So did you get a lot of candy?" asked Dean.

Sam had taken Judy out trick-or-treating, despite how much they disliked the holiday. Judy didn't seem to mind dressing up, though to be fair, they didn't really celebrate the tradition of Halloween even when she was with her birth family.

It also served to keep suspicion on why they were really there, as witches would have a hard time believing hunters would take a kid door to door for candy in a magical girl costume.

Which wasn't really a costume, but something Zelretch had cooked up out of boredom and had lying around. He had someone resize it for him so it would fit her.

Judy held up a plastic bucket that was filled up with candy. Dean snorted.

"That's it?" he asked Sam.

Sam eyes danced with amusement.

"Nope. Go this was just the last haul. Seems that costume can change on command, and with a wig no one recognizes her. We hit several houses multiple times. There's enough sugar in the Impala to keep even a trickster happy for a week," said Sam smirking.

"Now that's more like it," grinned Dean. It meant they'd be loaded for weeks after this. Judy beamed up at her uncle.

"Once I've sorted through the candy, we'll deal with the two witches and leave."

"I'll help," said Dean, shuddering at the memory of the first death in town.

What sort of twisted monster would make that old wives tale about razors in the candy real? It was just wrong, that's what it was!

It took them three hours (and several stolen pieces from Judy's stash, not that she cared) before they snuck into the house of the art teacher and killed him, before tracking down the 'sexy cheerleader' and dealt with her.

They came back to find Castiel and another angel in the room. Sam tensed. He was always worried they might notice his wings.

"Dean. Sam. Have you dealt with the witches?" asked Castiel.

"They're dealt with," said Dean flatly. Judy was looking at the angels oddly. She was still eating a few pieces of candy that they had checked.

Castiel did the tilting thing, before noticing her intense staring.

"Why are you staring at us like that?"

"Why do you have such shiny wings on your back?" she finally asked, taking courage in Sam and Dean's presence. She hadn't known how to react when they suddenly appeared in the room mere minutes before her father arrived.

"You can see our wings?" said Castiel. Uriel did not look happy hearing this.

She pointed at the grumpy angel.

"He has two of them, but you have only one set."

"Who is this child?" demanded Uriel crossly.

Judy, sensing she had said something wrong, flinched and immediately went to hide behind Sam. Castiel didn't look happy with the fact Uriel had scared an innocent child.

"She's my adopted daughter," said Sam. "Not that it's any of your business."

"Why is he here anyway?" asked Dean, his tone clearly angry.

"He was sent to insure that the town was cleansed should you fail to find and stop the witches," said Castiel. His tone subtly said his opinion on the matter.

"Well he can get lost," said Dean flatly.

Uriel sneered at them both before leaving. Castiel looked at the small form of Judy, who peeked out from behind Sam's legs. He bent down slightly to get to eye level with her.

"I apologize for Uriel. He does not like humanity much," said Castiel.

"It's okay. I'm used to it," she said quietly, before ducking back behind Sam.

Castiel nodded to the brothers, before leaving as well.

"Well if I didn't believe him about angels being dicks with wings, that just cemented it. At least Cas wasn't too bad."

"I didn't know you could see their wings, Judy," said Sam.

"They're not as pretty as yours, daddy," said Judy shyly. Dean snickered at the fact that his niece just called Sam "pretty".

"Why did you name her Judy anyway?" asked Dean, settling in. he needed a nap before they left town.

"Remember what you said about mom? How she used to sing _'Hey Jude'_ as a lullaby?" said Sam.

Dean nodded, before he realized what he was getting at.

"Seriously?"

"It was the only thing I could think of and I was having trouble making up a name. So I figured Judy works well enough."

"Yeah, like Judge Judy," snarked Dean, before yawning.

"Go to sleep Dean. I'll nap once we're on the road."

Dean waved him off, before snores were heard from the other bed. Judy giggled.

"Uncle Dean is loud."

"Yes, yes he is. Maybe we'll prank uncle Dean once we're sure he's actually sleeping later," said Sam grinning. Would serve his jerk brother right for laughing at him earlier.

Judy giggled again.

"Now, how about we work on our Latin," said Sam. Judy perked up at the idea. She liked studying with her daddy.

* * *

They were about to head out to a possible new hunt when Sam got another call. Dean could tell within moments of Sam answering it who it was.

"Macedonia, tomorrow? Yeah, we'll be there. Mind if I bring in some extra help? Magus, not affiliated with anyone important, good with research."

"Well?"

"Magus this time, delved a bit too deep into the wrong research. Hard to believe the Enforcers are calling us now," said Sam.

After running into the Enforcers the first time they helped with an apostle hunt, Sam and Dean had found themselves with more people who would call for assistance. Apparently they had made such a good impression on the Enforcers that they were willing to export the Winchesters and some of their friends out of the country for a week or so to help. The pay was smaller, but the contacts they made out of these sorts of hunts often outweighed the downsides.

Besides, according to Castiel it was really pissing off some of his superiors that they were openly leaving the country for hunts, rather than staying on the search for Lilith or the seals. Then again, Gilgamesh was making more headway finding that particular demon than they were.

Gilgamesh scared the supernatural more than they did.

"So who are we bringing with us?"

"Waver. He summoned Iskander... Alexander the Great...during the tournament and the guy made a real impression on him. Figured he'd be thrilled for a reason to get some rare books and visit Macedonia."

"What's so great about the place?"

Sam made his patented bitchface at his brother.

"Alexander the Great was the king of Macedonia."

"You are such a nerd Sammy."

"Bite me jerk. And I didn't learn that out until I actually had a chance to meet with him and ask him questions. He was taller than I am," said Sam.

"Wait, meet with him?" repeated Dean. Sam smirked in triumph.

"I actually got to talk to King Arthur, Diarmund and Alexander the Great, not to mention Gilgamesh. Though ironically they got the gender wrong."

"Who's gender?"

"King Arthur. Their real name was Arturia Pendragon. Apparently Merlin gave her a functioning dick as a prank once, and because she was so young when she took up Caliburn people mistook her for a man."

"Okay I'm calling bullshit. You're telling me that _the_ King Arthur was actually a WOMAN?" said Dean in outright disbelief.

Sam pulled out his laptop and scrolled through the countless photos he had taken in Fuyuki. He had a ton of them with Enkidu and Iskander, and several of Gilgamesh. But he had only a handful of Lancer and Saber. He also had a few photos of Saber's fake Master, who he later learned was the lesser Grail. He never did get her name.

"Meet Saber, aka Arturia, King of Knights."

"Damn, she's small."

* * *

 _Elsewhere in the Throne of Heroes..._

Arturia had the sudden urge to kick someone in the balls. With her plated boots.

* * *

 _Back on Earth..._

Dean shuddered for no apparent reason.

"So who's the big guy?"

"That would be Alexander the Great. He was obsessed with war simulation games and he generally liked to walk around in physical form. He used to knock Waver on his ass a lot by flicking his finger at him."

"And the pretty boy with the spears?"

"Lancer, or Diarmund. He's an old Celtic myth about a knight of Fianna who was cursed with an enchanted spot on his eye that made any woman fall for him. It ended getting him killed because the wrong woman married him."

"And green boy?"

"That would be Enkidu, the one I summoned. The gold haired one with the red eyes...and before you ask he isn't an apostle and he will almost certainly kill you if you make that mistake, is Gilgamesh."

"Wait. Gilgamesh as in the same Gilgamesh who's been causing all sorts of rumors to spread among the hunter's network for months?" said Dean, staring at Sam incredulous.

"Somehow the two of them found a way to sustain themselves outside the tournament, and I figured they could do some good while exploring America. Gilgamesh is currently hunting down Lilith for us, since there's no way the angels will let us get even remotely close to killing her this early," said Sam.

"So any idea what we're going to be heading into?"

"From what little they told me, this Magus was looking into something that they considered rather wasteful by Magus standards. He was kicked out and barely escaped Clock Tower, but he's been spotted in Macedonia. They want us to find and get rid of him before he does any more damage," said Sam.

Dean nodded.

"Which air port?"

This would be their fourth hunt outside America, and they found their reputation among hunters was actually improving. They were known for being competent and being able to handle themselves in a crisis.

They still couldn't take out an apostle on their own, but the mere fact they were able to take out ghouls once they found out how to kill them and didn't hesitate earned them a lot of respect. Well, respect and something close to a paycheck.

They were considered mercenaries for the supernatural side of things, ones that held strict neutrality. It was somewhat odd for Dean and Sam to have special passports that let them get past security with weapons and some rather sketchy items.

They weren't used to being _paid_ for their work, or having this much back up.

And that was before you got into the whole international travel side of things.

Bobby certainly wasn't complaining. Every time they went overseas, they always brought more books for him to translate and research with. It had become an unspoken joke between them.

* * *

 _In Macedonia..._

Waver felt distinctly uncomfortable once he realized why they had brought him. But he was able to push that aside because he was literally in Iskander's birthplace, and they had agreed to look the other way if he went sight seeing while they were dealing with any nasty traps left by the Magus.

He was mostly there for research purposes and helping sort through any finds they made in the workshop once the Magus was killed. He knew he'd be getting scraps, but that was better than nothing.

Even if he didn't find anything of use to him, he was still got the chance to see Rider's kingdom, as diminished as it was.

He would be staying with the Winchesters, since Sam and Dean didn't mind sharing rooms. Since they were in unknown territory and were reasonably cautious about whether or not the Magus knew they were coming, the brothers would be sleeping in shifts for security reasons. It made the sleeping arrangements a bit more manageable.

Waver pulled his newly made coat a bit closer. It was made from the remains of Rider's mantle, complete with gold trim. For some reason, the cloth didn't disappear with Rider, so he had reused it to remember him by.

Sam had told him of how he used to be a scrawny kid, before he had a growth spurt.

Waver had never believed that anyone could have a growth spurt that made them shoot up like weeds, especially people as tall as Sam or Rider...at least until he realized his sudden change in diet (courtesy of him unconsciously emulating Sam and Iskander's eating habits) resulted in him suddenly growing. He hadn't realized he had gained several inches until he was in the Clock Tower and found himself staring at a different set of books than he remembered, then realizing that he was looking at the shelf above them!

He had gone into the doctors to find out he had gained at least five inches of height and the pounds to go with it in weight. And according to the doctor he would get at least another two or three inches before he settled, at least.

He was almost at eye level with Sam, and taller than Dean.


	10. Chapter 10

It was as he was leaving the bathroom when he got the worst splitting migraine he had ever experienced. Without warning, his head was filled with the clamor of angels speaking. Loudly.

He had managed to get something to help him translate Enochian into something recognizable from Ciel, and from there he had quickly picked up the gist of the spoken language. He couldn't read it very well, but he could passably speak it. Sort of.

He picked up the words "Anna" "Milton" and a possible area. Once the migraine passed he went to his computer and looked her up... and to his shock, she was a girl about his age who happened to be a preacher's daughter.

Well the angels were up in arms about her, so there had to be a reason. And it was his weekend to keep Judy...

"Hey Dean, we might have a hunt. It might be safe for Judy to join us," said Sam.

Most of the time Judy stayed safe with Deanna and Samuel, because Bobby was very much an active hunter. He wasn't really equipped to handle a little girl, whereas Deanna and Samuel were more researchers than hunters. Plus they lived near a nice school district.

Sam and Dean usually brought Judy with them on weekends whenever they were able to. They tried not to bring her on hunts, but sometimes it happened.

They always made sure she was safe from damn near anything if they had to leave her for any amount of time though.

Judy was cheerfully playing on her new tablet that Sam had given her as a present while they drove on. Because the Impala was heavily warded (except the trunk), she was safe from harm while they went to investigate Anna Milton.

Except things _weren't_ safe.

Anna was being hunted by demons, high ranking ones they were better off avoiding without some damn good back up, and angels.

* * *

It wasn't until Judy was in the same room as the girl that she enlightened everyone to what was actually going on.

Sam looked down when Judy tugged at his hand.

"What is it?"

"Daddy, why does she have bloody wings on her back?" asked Judy, pointing at Anna.

"I... What?" said Sam, baffled.

"Her wings. They look like someone tried to take them off, but didn't do the job right, they're all red and bloody," said Judy, in a voice that could almost pass for innocent. Any other child would have been traumatized by the sight of such a thing. For her, it was merely par for the course.

For obvious reasons, while none of her family showed her graphic images like the remains of a werewolf victim or a vampire attack, they at least didn't dumb down what was really happening around her.

Judy was a smart child. She had been through a living hell for over a year and survived, even if her mind was still being repaired with the therapist Zelretch had been kind enough to introduce Sam to. Her young age was helping tremendously with recovering from the ordeal.

Sam eyed Anna with renewed suspicion.

"Anna, you said that you've been picking up on the Angel Radio. You know the Enochian sigil for banishing angels from a place, and high ranking demons are after you."

"Shit. Sam I just remembered where I heard her name before," swore Dean. To be fair, they barely remembered most of what their alternate selves had told them, and the majority of the information they gave them was on a hard drive in a safety deposit box under Waver's name. Sam had the key, but it would require a specific passphrase in order to get to the hard drive.

The passphrase was something only a select few would know. Specifically the true names of five Servants.

Iskander, Arturia, Gilgamesh, Enkidu and Bluebeard.

All perfectly innocuous names...unless you knew the backstory behind them. Certainly not something an angel would have been able to guess, let alone a demon.

"Anna Milton...the angel who fell and took on human form," said Dean, looking at a disbelieving Anna in the eyes.

"What?"

"It certainly fits. And I vaguely remember where they said the Grace fell. Odds are Uriel has found it by now," said Sam, eyeing Anna.

"What are you talking about? I'm human!"

"No, you're not. You're an angel that tore out their own grace and took human form," said Dean.

"The only way this is going to resolve itself is if she gets her Grace back, or if she's dead."

Anna almost looked hysterical.

"Should we really be talking about death in front of your daughter?" she asked Sam.

"Daddy and Uncle Dean don't hide the facts around me, just the scenes," said Judy matter of fact. She wasn't allowed to see the gore, but they didn't really tried to hide it. She was smart enough to figure things out on her own, and it was better for her to hear the facts than let her imagination run wild.

Sam was about to say something when his phone rang. Whoever it was on the other end made his worried expression turn rather smug.

"Hey Dean, how would you like to meet the infamous Gil and his androgynous friend?" asked Sam.

"Gil as in... that Gil?"

"I dare say he could give them a run for their money while we get the Grace back, and you know he's not exactly fond of feathers or sulfur," said Sam.

"Hell, call him in! We could use the back up!" said Dean.

Sam had only seen Gilgamesh and Enkidu a handful of times since they decided to tour America and go on random hunts while drunk. Very rarely did he end up being called in to act as Gilgamesh's lawyer, as Enkidu was surprisingly adept at getting his friend out of trouble.

They were mostly calling because they were in the area and were bored enough to visit.

If anyone could keep the angels from killing them, or the demons from getting their claws on Anna, it was Gilgamesh. He'd probably enjoy causing some chaos.

Or at the very least Enkidu would help convince him. He was still rather fond of Sam, partly because the hunter hadn't hesitated to humor him while they were still Master and Servant, and because he let him go off with Gilgamesh rather than tell him to stick around.

Needless to say his treatment of Enkidu gained him a _lot_ of leeway when it came to asking anything from the King of Heroes.

* * *

Dean couldn't help but stare when Gilgamesh drove up in a rather expensive as hell Ferrari. He never thought he'd see one up close, especially not a vintage one that had to have cost a fortune. It was red with gold trim, and looked like it cost more than Bobby's house and Dean's Impala combined. And that was before you got into the fashionable clothes and other little indicators that the owner came from a _lot_ of money.

The casual way he disregarded the items said even more of the fact that he was richer than god and he knew it.

His eyes were slitted, almost cat-like, and they looked like a cross between blood red and ruby. There was a overt sort of arrogance that screamed power and influence and what was more was that the owner of it was damn well aware of it and not afraid to use it. His hair was like fire, and was fashionably cut. He wore strange gold earrings and a necklace that screamed antique.

All in all, he looked and felt like a total douchebag with more money and influence than Dean would ever have in his life, and someone he would gladly shoot in the ass if he could get away with it.

At least that was Dean's first impression of him.

Enkidu had long green hair, a cheerful, if passive attitude and a sort of childlike innocence. He had an androgynous look that made it hard to tell if he was a boy or girl, and the long hair didn't help. Sort of like a flower child that was enamored with the world and everything in it...only with the subtle thrum of power. Almost like meeting Castiel in full angel mode for the first time.

The two were almost complete polar opposites, and Dean might have had trouble believing the two were best friends.

Except... he had noticed immediately the way Gilgamesh and Enkidu looked at each other. It was impossible to miss, and he had recognized the expression for what it was. Most people might mistake it, but not Dean.

Complete and absolute trust. Gilgamesh in particular had the same sort of look Dean knew he had when Sam had died in Cold Oaks. The look that said he wouldn't hesitate to move heaven and earth to bring Enkidu back, and damn the consequences.

And while Dean might hate Gilgamesh for the arrogance he practically exuded out of every fiber of his being, he could respect the strange sort of loyalty that the blond had for his friend.

It took one to know one after all.

"So, where is my scribe and the angel he said might provide me amusement?" said Gilgamesh almost negligently.

A look passed between him and the golden king. A sort of recognition of the devotion for another person.

Which was pretty much the _only_ reason why Gilgamesh didn't kill Dean out of hand for gazing upon him without permission. Well that and Enkidu would have been very disappointed in his friend enough not to talk to him for months.

Gilgamesh patiently listened to Sam's insane idea. Which boiled down to Gilgamesh giving the angels and demons both a hard time while they took back Anna's Grace. Sam could honestly care less if Gilgamesh pissed off both sides, so long as he didn't kill Castiel by accident.

Sam didn't know if Enuma Elish could kill even an angel, but it was a safe bet it could do some serious damage. Not that the arrogant king would bring it out without a good reason...like to kill Micheal or Lucifer for royally pissing him off.

Considering what alternate Dean told them about what he had seen when Lucifer won...yeah, that would _definitely_ piss off Gilgamesh enough to actually DO something about it...like laying waste to Lucifer and every demon unlucky enough to cross his path.

For that reason Dean was going to start carrying a catalyst to summon Gilgamesh a second time, in the event that Zachariah dumped him in the future to make him even more desperate.

On a completely unrelated note, they now had a very good reason to shoot any Jehovah's Witnesses that happened to come to their door. It wasn't that they had anything against the religion, but it had everything to do with the fact that alternate Dean and Sam had mentioned offhand that there were multiple spies among that particular sect.

To be fair, Bobby's home wasn't exactly _inviting_ to the casual parishioner, what with the occult symbols on the entrances and inside the house, and the brothers didn't have an actual home address to bother with.

And really, what kind of idiot went door to door knocking on hotel room doors to spread the good word and expect to be greeted with open arms anyway? They were just asking to be shot on principle.

Gilgamesh smirked. Dean resisted the urge to punch him, just because.

"I am bored enough to agree with your request, scribe."

One hurdle down, several more to go.

Dean had to ask once they were outside hearing distance.

"Why does he keep referring to you as 'scribe'?"

"I spent most of the tournament getting stories from the heroes than actually _doing_ anything constructive. Most of which I wrote down. So naturally they assumed I was a historian or a bard that wanted to spread their tales to the masses. It was easier than trying to explain I summoned a Servant without knowing anything about the tournament save that the winner got a wish," said Sam shrugging.

And to be honest, he had been called worse. Much worse.

Which reminded him of something. He needed to get one of his books published. He had mostly been writing it in his spare time, partly out of boredom but also because it was an outlet that could be called healthy.

He was so sending the first one about Iskander to Waver as a gift though.

* * *

The expression on both sides seeing Gilgamesh and Enkidu present at the exchange? Priceless and enough to give Dean a good laugh for hours long after it was over.

Mostly because their expression could be summed up as "Oh Shit, what's HE doing here?!"

The sheer fact that even Alistair had been caught flat footed enough that Gilgamesh was able to kick his ass...

Well that had made Dean's day so much that he practically welcomed the golden king as part of the family, because Alistair had been the one in charge of torturing him in hell. Seeing him get his ass handed to him like the Winchesters usually had theirs on the more difficult hunts was something he'd treasure forever.

And to make it even better, Zelretch was able to share the memory with alternate Dean and brighten his day. More than enough to pay for the information he had given them about the Apocalypse and anything that happened to come up after.

About two weeks later Sam got something in the mail at Bobby's. Dean was baffled as to what it was until he opened the package while Sam was off getting groceries.

" _Iskander, King of Conquerors_?" read Dean.

"Seriously Dean? You couldn't wait for me to open it before getting into the mail?" said Sam, complete with irritated bitch face.

"What the heck is this? Some fantasy novel you ordered online?"

"Just read it," said Sam amused.

Dean wasn't one to read much, but his curiosity overrode his natural disinterest in books.

By the first seven pages, he was openly interested. By the second chapter, he was hooked. By the time he was halfway through, a suspicion came to mind as to who the author was.

"Sammy?"

"Yes?"

"Did you write this?"

"Dean, what part of I wrote down the stories of legendary heroes did you not get? I've been working on that for weeks out of boredom," said Sam with open smugness in his voice.

"My brother, king of nerds," said Dean, going back to his book.

"Jerk."

"Bitch," Dean shot back.

It would take him the better part of two days to finish it. And several hours of pestering before Sam gave him a sneak preview of the next one in the series, which was titled " _Gilgamesh, King of Heroes"._

As if that wasn't enough, for the cover photos he used pictures he had taken of said heroes in full armor. The first book had Iskandar in his armor riding his chariot...without Waver in the back with him. It made an imposing image of Rider, and there was very little worry of copyright issues.

The next one had a picture of Gilgamesh and Enkidu in their full glory, and it had taken several tries before they had the perfect picture to display the Golden King's glory to his satisfaction.


	11. Chapter 11

_Iskander, King of Conquerors_ quickly skyrocketed to the top of the 'historical fiction' charts to the point where they had to reprint the initial run.

Dean was unbearably smug that his baby brother somehow ended up a famous author, to the point they didn't have to rent the crappy hotel rooms ever again.

Sam had left a brief word on the author, but had been smart enough not to add a picture or anything that would give open clues as to who wrote the book.

Hunters operated in secret, and having his face plastered everywhere would make it almost impossible for them to get information.

Maybe somewhere down the road when they were as old as Bobby and ready to settle as researchers. Though odds were good Bobby would kick his ass if he ever said as much.

Besides, Sam knew how rabid fans thought. The more mystery behind the author, the more popular the book could become. People loved a good mystery, especially harmless ones that left everyone speculating who wrote the book.

The fact Sam also left a recently made e-mail for people to contact him made it easier for people to believe that the author simply enjoyed his privacy.

The weirdest myth that worried Sam was the fact that when fans recognized the rifle (which he put in place of the author's photo) as a Winchester, they almost automatically started connecting his book with another author by the name of Carver Edmund.

The reason it worried him was because people were openly speculating if "Sam Winchester" was in fact real, which really made no sense to him since as far as he was aware, the only ones that knew their real name an appearance were those they saved on their hunts.

Mostly because they had to keep the fact they were alive secret until recently because of their records.

Which lead to this...

"Oh...my...god. Dean, you have to see this!" said Sam in a mixture of horrified and hysteria.

"What is it? What the fuck?!"

There, on the screen, was the fan site for a series called _Supernatural._ What alarmed Sam was the fan art of the main characters...who bore a very disturbing resemblance to the two brothers.

"What the actual fuck."

"Look at this. Look at the synopsis of the books," said Sam in disbelief.

"Who writes this again?" said Dean, who's face turned thunderous upon discovering the "Wincest" links.

* * *

Chuck was having a good day, right up until he opened the door to reveal to people he had always thought were figments of his imagination.

"No, no, no... You can't be here!"

"And why's that? It's not like you've been writing about us without our knowledge. Oh wait, you have!" said Dean with snark. He was not happy...mostly after learning the source of the Wincest crap he kept finding now that he knew about the books.

Sam however was looking at Chuck oddly. For some reason the man felt...familiar. And that was before you got into the subtle glowing around him. Even with the sunlight in the room, it was almost impossible not to notice, mostly because he had to learn to see things he had never seen before.

The reason it bothered him was because Castiel had that same glow, only it was less subtle. Uriel had it too, so did Anna. He was beginning to believe that the glow he saw was attributed to divine power or something.

So while Dean went snooping around the house, Sam decided to charge in, Iskander-style.

"What are you?"

"What do you mean?" asked Chuck nervously.

"Well the only time I see that weird glow is around angels, even ones like Anna. And you have it, but it's really subtle."

Chuck laughed nervously, as if he didn't know how to answer that.

"How...how do you see glowing like that?"

"Leading theory was that the way I went about making a friend of mine solid caused a few...side effects. Not the least of which was some new...appendages," said Sam cryptically.

"What, like a tail?" joked Chuck.

"Think less sulfur and more high frequency waves," said Sam.

Angels couldn't communicate with humans without a vessel. Sam was the only one who heard anything resembling words when Castiel tried to talk to them without Jimmy to act as a filter. And he still couldn't understand Enochian properly. To be fair, he didn't exactly have anyone to correct his pronunciation and grammar.

And he wasn't stupid enough to try and get Castiel's help. He would undoubtedly tell his superiors who would ask the worst possible questions.

Something about Chuck seemed to shift. Time slowed down, literally.

Sam said nothing. He knew something big was happening and he wasn't stupid enough to say anything that might piss off whatever this guy was.

Chuck seemed to look a little closer at him, and on a hunch Sam let his new wings loose. That seemed to catch the "Prophet" off guard quite a bit.

"How?"

"I swallowed a jewel full of prana and woke up with these things. Next thing I know, I'm hooked up to Angel Radio to the point I'm slowly learning Enochian, though it's choppy at best," said Sam flatly.

Chuck laughed, rubbing his chin in disbelief.

"The ending was changed. I don't believe it. Do they... no, they can't know. If they did they wouldn't hesitate to insure things stayed on track."

"Well to be fair, we also got a major info dump as to what's really going on courtesy of a dimension hopping dead apostle who thought screwing over heaven and hell was hilarious."

"Zelretch. How did you two find out about me anyway?"

"Fans of my book started asking whether the author of _Iskander_ was also the inspiration for Sam Winchester in your books."

"Wait. You wrote _Iskander, King of Conquerors_?"

"The next one is called _Gilgamesh, King of Heroes_. You have no idea the headaches I had to go through before he was happy with the cover photo," deadpanned Sam.

"You're talking like he's around now," said Chuck.

Sam blinked.

"Wow...you're really out of the loop. The angels haven't stopped bitching about him and Enkidu kicking their feathered asses while we helped Anna."

And wasn't that an understatement. The moment they recognized his soul, angels like Uriel and Zachariah were _very_ vocal about their displeasure finding out he had somehow survived this long. Not to mention the fact they were wondering how the hell they missed both of them! Gilgamesh wasn't exactly SUBTLE.

Sam noticed time starting to speed up, and quickly hid his wings. It was about that time Castiel showed up.

He had yet to become human enough to earn the nickname "Cas".

Whatever Chuck was, Sam got the firm feeling that he absolutely didn't want to become involved in stopping the apocalypse. Much like Gabriel, according to their alternate selves, save for the fact that Chuck had vanished pretty abruptly with no real clue where he went or why.

A sudden thought occurred to him.

"Hey Dean, did you notice anything unusual about that amulet I gave you on Christmas all those years ago?"

Dean blinked, closing the car door.

"Yeah, now that you mention it. Felt a little warm, but I thought I was imagining it."

Sam hummed in his throat. That settled it, but from what he understood there was no way in _hell_ they would be able to convince Chuck to interfere.

It was probably best for all parties involved if that particular deity remained on the MIA side of things. Who knows what sort of chaos would start up if Sam busted his identity?

Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

"Sammy?"

"It's nothing. Just thought I sensed something off about him. Might be because he's the Prophet and has a direct line to God," said Sam.

Dean took that answer and didn't ask. Sam might tell him, if he thought it was worth mentioning.

After talking to their alternate selves, they had come to an agreement.

No secrets. Not after all the hell they'd both been through since Dean reunited with Sam in Stanford. Every time they tried to hide something from the other, it always blew up in the most catastrophic way at the absolutely WORST time.

Besides, it wasn't like Sam had enough proof.

"So what now?"

Sam had a sudden, almost wicked thought.

"How does tracking down Loki and then sending in the vampire pain in the ass sound?"

"He can get us recordings of that damn Trickster's face when he realizes he was set up, right?"

"God, I hope so," said Sam almost vindictively.

"Hell, I'm game. Beats tracking down Adam a second time so we can arrange a protection detail...again."

After telling Adam and his mother about what happened to John and their relation to him, the second thing they had done was arrange a discreet protection detail courtesy of a few "retired" members of the Church.

Normally they wouldn't even consider loaning some of their retired members, even to hunters.

Except these weren't any hunters. These were the _Winchesters_. Specifically the chosen vessels of Micheal and Lucifer. And since Adam was their half brother, that made him a VERY tempting target for above and below to make things difficult. The mere fact he was half Winchester meant that they knew what a valuable commodity the teen was.

So they set up a discreet security detail, one that knew enough about the supernatural to pick up signs almost immediately and report it without hesitation...if they didn't deal with the matter themselves.

Besides, this meant the Winchesters owed them. Big.

Sam was right about to start looking for Loki when his phone suddenly rang.

"Sam. Wait, what? _What_ happened?! No, we'll be over immediately!" said Sam in shock.

"What's going on?"

"Something happened with Judy."

Dean promptly hit the accelerator and floored it for three states. It was a miracle they didn't get pulled over for speeding violations.

* * *

Sam's eyebrows were twitching rampantly. Dean wasn't much better.

"What the fuck? OW!"

"No swearing around Judy," said Deanna, though her tone spoke volumes of how displeased she was of the current situation.

"Yes Grandma," said Dean, rubbing his head.

"So what exactly happened?"

"Judy was working on her homework before her favorite show was about to come on, when the book you left behind last time suddenly started floating and speaking German. Next thing we know some sort of magical circle appeared and these four showed up out of nowhere. They aren't demons, spirits or anything we've seen before," said Samuel.

The four in question were an eclectic quartet, and wearing some rather odd clothing.

Sam started to speak, before he shut his mouth.

"There's only one thing I can think of to do right now," he admitted.

"What?" asked Dean.

Sam pulled out his phone, called Waver, and said loud enough for everyone to hear over the speakerphone...

"Waver, it's Sam. Are you near Zelretch at the moment? You are? Great. Could you do me a monumental favor and slap him very, very hard on the head before telling him to march his fanged ass to where we are now and start explaining?"

There was the distinct sound of something hitting flesh, the sound of someone swearing, before evil laughter was heard. A minute later Zelretch appeared, took one look at the quartet before he laughed even harder.

"What. Did. You. Do?" said Sam flatly.

Zelretch had the most terrifying smirk (for those that knew him at all) on his face.

"I was wondering when that book would wake up. Be glad I fixed it before I gave it to her, otherwise you'd have bigger problems than two feathered idiots arguing over who was right."

Sam pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Who are they, what _exactly_ did you give my daughter, and give me one damn good reason why we're not shooting you in the ass with sanctified bullets."

"They're the Wolkenritter, the book I gave her is something called a Unison Device that happens to collect magic, and sanctified bullets are more of an annoyance than anything else," said Zelretch.

"I hate you. So very damn much."

"Why? I just gave your daughter four permanent bodyguards, all of whom could take Zouken and kill him without any problem. They can't be possessed and even if their physical form is destroyed, she can just bring them back with the book, meaning the angels can't do anything about them either. And again, be glad I purged it of the glitch it had, or you'd really be in trouble," smirked Zelretch.

"Is this because I wouldn't let you give her those Kaleidosticks?" asked Sam.

"No, this was for shits and giggles at the look on the face of the other Magi when the Fifth Grail War starts up and she kills everyone else," said Zelretch grinning.

Sam gave up. It was like dealing with a vampire version of that damn Trickster and he wasn't drunk enough to deal with that.

Instead he did something far more productive.

"Sammy? Who are you calling now?" asked Dean worriedly.

"I'm calling Ciel, and if that fails Bazette. There _has_ to be something we can brutally murder in the name of protecting the innocent currently active."

Dean blinked, thought that one over, before nodding in agreement. Killing something and getting out his frustration without getting drunk was probably a more healthy alternative to trying and failing to kill Zelretch. Again. For the tenth time since they were introduced.

Fortunately he didn't hold the murder attempts personally.


	12. Chapter 12

Dealing with Zelretch's idea of funny was always migraine worthy...but coming home after a particularly _nasty_ apostle hunt (and having the Enforcers give both of them genuine looks of pity for dealing with Zelretch's brand of madness) to find Jimmy Novak, the poor bastard stuck as Castiel's vessel wandering around after the angel got taken...well, that ramped up Sam's foul mood up to twelve. At least.

As if Zachariah hadn't already pissed them off thinking it was hilarious to dump them in a _Dilbert_ comic strip and force them to act against their natures, now he did this.

"Sam, you're not seriously going to..."

"No, I'm not going to ask Zelretch for help. Not while I'm still pissed about the stunt he pulled with Judy."

"Oh. What are you going to do?"

"Do something we both might regret that has the possibility of giving us headaches later," said Sam, as if he really didn't want to do this, but saw little reason not to.

"Sam, who or what are you going to contact to help?" demanded Dean.

Sam's face was almost constipated.

"The Trickster. I figure if anyone had any idea of how to make a body double for Cas, it would be him."

If nothing else Sam could have Zelretch waiting to kick Loki's ass if he refused.

"Oh. In that case I'll help, as long as that fanged asshole is waiting," said Dean. Asking the Trickster sounded like a better idea than hoping Zelretch would humor them. The Enforcers had been openly shocked he hadn't given into boredom and dumped them in some random world just to laugh at them struggle trying to survive before bringing them back.

He was a bit of a dick like that, but still infinitely preferable to Zachariah.

"How are we going to get Castiel to stay put while we summon the Trickster?"

"I have an idea about that. Worse case scenario we trap him in holy oil fire."

* * *

As it turned out, summoning Loki wasn't the problem, but getting him there _and_ keeping Castiel in place was a pain in the ass. Dean eventually resorted to knocking the angel out and putting him in an oil circle Sam had poured on the ground.

He was heartily sick of "Castiel" and he wanted Cas back, NOW.

Good thing Loki didn't notice the slightly larger holy oil circle around him. He might have if it had been lit, but he must have assumed the oil was for the summoning.

"Never thought you two morons would actually _summon_ me like this," he said, popping a sucker in his mouth. He eyes the out-cold Castiel warily. "Or that you would have your pet angel with you."

"Cut the crap Loki. We're interested in making an agreement," said Sam. They hated any mention of the word "deal", especially Dean.

"Oh really now? And what sort of agreement could you two idiots make that I'd be interested in?" said Loki, amused in spite of himself.

"We want Cas back to the way he was before those assholes in heaven yanked him back up and threw him into their Nazi-brainwashing boot camp. In exchange we won't set a certain Dead Apostle Ancestor on you," said Dean flatly.

"I heard you two were working with the Church and the Association. But no. I'm not going anywhere near angels, not while this Apocalypse crap is going on. I ain't getting involved," said Loki.

Sam shared a look with Dean. Then he made a fake sigh of disappointment...before casually lighting the oil on fire. Loki's eyes widened enough to prove that yes, he did recognize what he was in, but he was smart enough not to make any overt signs that he was freaking out right now.

"You really think a circle of fire will hold me?" he scoffed, though you could tell he was worried by his voice.

"A normal fire, no. But I'm betting you'd know what's in this," said Sam, sloshing the plastic jug in his hand.

Fresh holy oil, courtesy of the Church. They didn't know why Sam and Dean asked for it, nor did they care so long as they didn't do something evil with it.

Loki was sweating bullets, and not from the heat.

"Still won't help us?" asked Sam.

"I told you, I'm not getting involved in this Apocalypse business."

"We never said anything about dragging you into stopping Lilith. I already convinced Gilgamesh and Enkidu to kill that bitch. We just want you to fix Cas back to the way he was, or at least give him a different vessel," said Sam patiently.

"Gilgamesh and Enkidu died eons before you two morons were born."

"I was talking about the Heroic spirits summoned for the Heaven's Feel tournament that came back with me from Fuyuki city, also known as Archer and Lancer," deadpanned Sam.

Loki stared at him.

"How in the _hell_ do you know about that mess?"

"Blame Zelretch for giving me the gist of what the 'grail' does and the ritual, without clarifying that it wouldn't help me save Dean," said Sam by way of explanation.

Loki's expression turned hard.

"I never took you for someone who'd sacrifice a whole mess of people just to sustain a Servant," he said coldly.

"What?" said Sam baffled.

"You're not a Magus, and the only way for a mere _human_ to sustain a Servant that long is to drain the souls of living people," said Loki.

"Okay, now I'm confused. I acted as an observer through that whole thing, and I definitely didn't attack anyone to sustain Enkidu, especially not after the mishap with that jewel Gilgamesh gave me to manifest him properly!"

Now it was Loki's turn to be confused.

"Wait, you swallowed a jewel full of prana and still don't have active circuits?!"

Sam blinked. Well that explained why it hurt like hell, outside of the awkwardness of swallowing a rock.

He had the sudden sense that the only way to avert a complete disaster with an angry arch angel was to really throw him off guard.

It was a risk with Castiel being brainwashed into acting as a good little soldier again, but it felt like the only way they'd get anything out of Loki now.

Without any real warning of what he was about to do, Sam willed his wings into manifesting. Dean sputtered when he got a mouthful of shiny feathers.

"Dammit Sammy, a little warning would have been nice!" said Dean irate.

Then he saw the look on Loki's face.

Pure, unadulterated shock. It was almost comical.

"What. How. Why..." sputtered Loki in absolute disbelief.

"I swallowed a jewel, and these showed up. Hell if I know why, but I still can't turn off that stupid Angel Radio. First week of that and I had a massive migraine," shrugged Sam.

Loki seemed to peer into Sam's soul.

"You have an arch angel's wings...but Lucifer's not riding shotgun. What the actual fuck?"

"So are you willing to help or not?" asked Dean, annoyed at being ignored.

Loki blinked, before shaking his head clear.

"You just want me to fix soldier boy and give him a different vessel, right?" he asked.

"If possible. Otherwise we'd be more than happy to call Zelretch over to make your life hell for the foreseeable future," said Dean far too cheerfully.

Loki snorted.

"Drop the circle and I'll see what I can do," he said.

He disappeared with Castiel, presumably to avoid the angels from noticing something was up. Three days later Cas returned, looking befuddled and confused...but more like he was before being dragged back into heaven.

Jimmy Novak was sent back to his family with the story of being roofied and kidnapped by a cult. He made enough vague descriptions to fit one that was already on the FBI watchlist, and was allowed to return back to his life...with a few minor additions, like an anti-possession amulet that he never took off, and the Winchester's number if anything happened.

* * *

Sam groaned. He had somehow gotten the flu, and rather than risk the chance of giving it to Dean or Bobby, had opted to camp out in the panic room in the basement with enough medicine to weather it out. He was streaming videos when he wasn't throwing up, and Bobby made a point to leave food and drink for him.

He was about to watch something on Hulu when he heard the door open. It was Uriel.

That was the last thing he remembered, before he was dragged unceremoniously out of Bobby's house and into some random warehouse.

 _Several hours later..._

Sam threw up, and realized something was very wrong because he could see daylight.

It had been close to nine at night when Uriel appeared. He felt the pit in his stomach drop, especially when he saw Lilith.

Her sneer didn't speak well of what was about to happen. He knew he had two choices.

He could either go with the original scenario his alternate had told him about...or he could be a sneaky bastard and ruin everyone's day in one move.

On his left arm was a series of intricate tattoos.

These were not tattoos at all. They were command seals, courtesy of Kirei in exchange for keeping Gilgamesh occupied until the next war. He would need them to insure the Golden King at least took him seriously, even if he couldn't astralize anymore.

Officially they were payment for helping smooth over the mess Caster left, and for acting as Overseer when the original one had been murdered.

Zelretch, in a mood to make things interesting, had altered them so that if Sam used them to summon Gilgamesh to wherever he was, it would also bring Enkidu without him having to waste another command seal.

Sam was too ill to deal with Lilith, and there was no way he was drinking demon's blood. He would bet his life that Lilith had the place layered with enough wards to keep Castiel out, and he wouldn't bet Zelretch would show up.

Which really left him only one feasible option.

He felt the tattoo flare on his arm, as he exercised the right of a Master, despite having only heard descriptions of how it worked.

"Archer, appear!"

Lilith's amusement turned to cold shock when Gilgamesh and Enkidu arrived in full armor, and with an openly annoyed expression.

He looked at Sam, who was clearly too sick to fight, and then noticed who else was in the room with him. His annoyance turned into the most vicious sneer Sam had seen outside of dealing with Zachariah. Enkidu looked more concerned about Sam.

"I will forgive your rude summoning, Scribe," said Gilgamesh, giving Lilith a look that did not speak well of what he was going to do to her now that she was within range of his person.

"Many apologies for daring to summon your glorious self, King of Heroes," said Sam, making sure to at least try and appear pious despite being sick, "But I thought that the Golden King would enjoy dealing with this foul taint in your garden _personally_."

Gilgamesh's ego appeased, the King of Heroes turned back to Lilith.

Several demons appeared, mostly to see what had made the racket in the room...only to be annihilated by Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon.

Lilith tried to back away, wondering how in Lucifer's name Sam managed to summon _him_ , only to find herself pinned by Enkidu's chains.

"I did not give you permission to gaze upon me, foul wretch!" snarled Gilgamesh.

Because of it's holy nature, even the prototype of Excalibur made short work of the first demon.

Sam was very close to passing out from his illness when he noticed Enkidu helping him up.

"Sorry about the sudden summoning, but I really wasn't expecting the angels to drag me out of the panic room while I was sick like that," said Sam.

"It's fine. He was getting pissed off with the demons that kept showing up to slow us down, and he wanted to get rid of Lilith for months anyway."

"I can't believe I caught the flu. It's not even the right season for it!" said Sam.

Gilgamesh cleared the way out of the old church, while Enkidu made sure none of the demons there came anywhere near Sam.

Once outside, Sam prayed to Cas for help.

"Sam. Dean has been most frantic in finding you."

"How did Uriel get past the angel wards?" asked Sam.

"He didn't. He convinced his vessel to do it for him," said Castiel.

That made a lot more sense than the angels suddenly getting past the wards, when even Cas had to be included in just to go inside the house.

He put two fingers to Sam's head, clearing him of the flu. Sam had declined the angel healing initially, since he didn't want to grow dependent on it, but after being forced to summon Gilgamesh to kill Lilith he wasn't going to say anything.

"I can only assume those arrogant feathered fools intend to force you and that brother of yours to act out your part as vessels now that the last seal has been weakened," said Gilgamesh, still in his armor.

Sam blinked.

"I thought you killing Lilith would prevent it from breaking?"

"You summoned us. Technically one could argue that it was 'by your hand' that the last demon fell."

Sam made a pained face.

"I really hate semantics sometimes..."

"At the very least we should vacate the area, should Lucifer force the last seal open," said Castiel.

It turned out to be a good thing Castiel took them away, because less than three minutes later there was a massive pillar of light. Had they stuck around they might have been killed, or at least permanently blinded in the case of Sam.


End file.
